The Aurors Lament
by SD Lawrie
Summary: An original story set in the Wizarding Worlds future. The search for the murderers of witches, wizards and muggles continues. The two find they are investigating more than one case with few clues, no suspects in custody and people who can disappear at will. This is classed as Fan Fiction, but it isn't really.
1. Chapter 1 The Wandmaker TAL

**Part two of the Muggle and the Auror.**

 **The Auror's Lament.**

 **Chapter One.**

 **The Wandmaker.**

 _Science has not yet mastered prophecy. We predict too much for the next year and yet far too little for the next ten._

 _Neil Armstrong (Astronaut)_

Auror Tony Garrett and DCI Adam Croft strolled down a busy Diagon Alley. The school year was about to start and the place was a mass with people scurrying from shop to shop, picking up last-minute items, children running between adults, screaming and shouting with excitement. Everyone seemed to have armfuls of goods, from broomsticks to cauldrons and everything in between. It puzzled Adam seeing everyone jostling and bumping into each other, at no time could he see anger or annoyance in any of these interactions, everyone seemed to have a great time, himself included.

Ahead of them stood two young women, both similar shades of blond, but one was straight, neat and to her waist, the other had a massive halo of hair, that seemed more explosion than hair. Both were dressed in the latest Muggle fashion, but somehow they looked out-of-place in between the most outlandish outfits on display.

Good morning Holly, Megan. "Adam said as he stopped next to them. Tony smiled at them, receiving a bright smile from Holly, the police constable from Brighton and squib, whose estranged mother was the Daily Prophet's lead reporter, and a sort of grimace from Megan, who was Sybil Trelawney's great niece, who was still unhappy at finding both Tony and Adam, also knowing what was about to happen next.

Tony led the way toward the end of the alley, stopping outside the Wanamaker's shop.

"Come on Holly, time to meet the maker of your new wand." Adam had walked straight past and was already in the shop being greeted by the Viking giant, Pinne Byquist, the Alley's wandmaker of some thirty years. Reluctantly Holly came next with Megan and Tony following.

"Tony, Miss Trelawney and, I know you. Why?" His voice had changed as he stared at her.

"I've never been here before today." She replied.

"How come I know you then?"

"I'm a squib." His eyebrows rose for a moment before he shook all of their hands, looking down at them expectantly. They all turned as one and looked at Holly, who was looking up at Pinne, her mouth open. She seemed to shake herself before pulling the wand out she had taken, then given back to her by Tony. She handed it to Pinne, which he took, rolling the barrel round in his hand. He then took his own enormous wand out and interrogated it.

"Blackthorn, dragon heartstring, ten and a half inches, very flexible. I made this wand around eight years ago and sold it to a young lad called Eric Clerkin, who as far as I can tell, is deceased." He looked at Tony, who nodded back. "The spells that were used…" Tony interrupted.

"I already know the spells, what I want to know is what is wrong with the wand now?"

"The wand has decided that it has a new owner which I assume is you, but." He stopped and looked down suspiciously at Holly. "How come this wand is in your possession?"

"I picked it up a couple of days ago. Why would a wand bond with me? I have no magic, I never went to Hogwarts."

Pinne's eyes brows rose up. "Are you from a magical family"?

"My mother is Stormy Fairweather."

"Hells teeth." He replied a horrified look had crept onto his face as he took a step back. "I thought I knew your face."

"I have two magical parents from a long line and three magical brothers and I am a squib." She said with resignation not enjoying this level of scrutiny.

"You're no squib. You have magical ability, but the type is unknown to me, which is unusual." He looked down on her from some height. "I find it hard to believe the Ministry missed you."

"Can I do magic?" She asked excitedly.

"I think your magic is weak. I'm fairly certain you can't use a wand in the usual fashion. I would say you need to talk to someone at the Ministry." He paused for a moment. "It will be your choice; I'll not say a word as long as you use the magic you have wisely when you find out what it is. Does your mother know about this?"

"No, and I intend to keep it that way." She said as he handed the wand back.

"I think that's a good idea."

He turned away to serve another couple and a group of children that had entered, making the little shop very crowded and quite noisy.

She thanked him and they all exited back into Diagon Alley. Adam looked back as they left and saw Pinne already in deep conversation with a young girl who was around a third of his height, staring up at him in awe.

Once in the street, Tony turned to Holly. "Do you want me to talk to someone at the Ministry?"

"I think it would be a good idea. I'm a little shocked at how much my Mother is disliked."

"It's the nature of her job I suppose."

"You think." She replied. "Can I keep the wand?"

"The wand has chosen the wizard, or in this case, the witch." He replied, receiving a bright smile from her.

"Let's have a walk down the street and do a bit of window shopping," Megan said to Holly eager to get away. They headed off towards Weasley's magic shop, leaving Adam and Tony alone.

"We'll see you in the Cauldron," Holly called without looking back.

Adam and Tony walked the opposite direction towards Knockturn Alley.

They settled themselves down in the upright chairs in the empty Aurors office in Knockturn Alley, careful not to push the piles of parchment over that covered most of the available desk and chair space, and a fair proportion of the floor. There was no sign of Edlyn Balsom, the quarter Veela that made Tony feel very uncomfortable while she was around, her absence suited Tony.

"Who is in charge of this Hall of Prophecies?" Adam asked.

"It's part of the Ministry of Mysteries, we need to get hold of Maldue Ledford," Tony said as he opened drawers, peering inside. Finding a small piece of parchment and a narrow red ribbon, he picked a quill up off the desk and wrote a short message. He walked back outside while rolling the parchment into a tight tube and tying it with the ribbon. He took his wand out and pointed it at the sky and said "Accio Freya."

"What the hell does that do?" Asked Adam, amazed that sparks did not appear from the end of the wand.

"I need Freya to send a message to the Ministry. She's already at the ministry, so she'll be here soon."

"Did you ever think of picking up a phone?"

"There are no phones in the Ministry." Tony laughed.

"If the Ministry is underground, how does the owl get in or out?" He gazed at him, waiting for an answer.

He thought for a moment. "I have absolutely no idea."

"It does seem strange to use an owl to get a message to someone."

"We were sent packing last time we went in and we still need to get hold of a pensieve. I could use another form of communication, but everything that goes in or out of the Ministry is monitored, the least watched messaging service will be the owls, purely because of the sheer number." Tony stopped for a moment. "Still doesn't mean it will not be monitored."

A shadow flickered over them as Freya circled the alley before landing on Tony's shoulder. He moved his head to one side as she rubbed her head against the side of his face. Tony took the small piece of rolled up parchment from his pocket and attached it to the bird's leg. He whispered to her. She leapt from his shoulder, flapping wildly, gaining height to clear the rooftops and was gone.

"What now?"

"We go back to the office and wait."


	2. Chapter 2 Of Prophecies TAL

**Of prophecies.**

Adam slouched in a chair, his head lolling to one side as a loud pop brought him around. He stood up and looked down at a small strangely, even for the magical world, dressed man. To Adam, he was the archetypal wizard from every book he had read as a child. A long grey wispy beard reached his belt, with matching hair, which seemed to form a halo around his head, held in place by a small cap. Around his skinny neck was a large chain of what looked like little pieces of wood, reminding Adam of the charm he had around his own neck, given to him by Pinne, for protection.

"What do you want Garrett?" He asked sharply, peering over a tiny pair of round-lensed glasses.

"Thank you for coming Minister. This is my partner Adam Croft; Adam this is Minister Maldue Ledford, Head of the Ministry of Mysteries."

Adam held out his hand, which was shaken enthusiastically.

"I know who you are Mr Croft, the policeman who's causing a bit of a stir."

"I'm hoping that's good?"

"Juries out." He turned to Tony as he held out the parchment he had received from Megan Trelawney.

He took it and read it thought and then looked up at Tony.

"It's a prophecy."

"I gathered that, who is the seer?" He asked patiently.

"Was, she's been dead for over twenty years." The old man's bushy eyebrows rose up.

"Who?" He replied, sounding a little less patient.

"Sybil Trelawney."

"What?" The little man almost screamed. Tony took a step back in surprise. Adam stifled a smirk, as he was certain the man's cap had lifted off his head.

Maldue raised his hand and clicked his fingers, three very confused people appeared in the already crowded office, one of them managed to hit a pile of parchment, sending it cascading across the little room, which in turn sent another pile into motion. Maldue waved his hand and all the parchments movement stopped, before moving back to their original location. He gave the young man a withering look.

"Hells teeth Maldue? I was shopping, it's my lunch break." Came from a tall, oddly dressed middle-aged woman. Adam was amazed to see she was wearing an actual black witch's hat, perched at a jaunty angle. He handed her the parchment, which she read. She looked at him quizzically.

"Sybil Trelawney." Was all he said the woman physically moved backwards as if she had been hit, her face went white. One of the younger man was looking over her shoulder, gasped at the same time. She read the parchment again before handing it back to Maldue and disappeared. The man who had gasped disappeared as well. Maldue turned to the third person, a young lad, looking as he was still in school

"Go to the Minister of Magic, tell him we have it."

"Yes, Sir." He said and he too disappeared.

"How long have you had this?" He snapped, anger in his voice as he waved the parchment at Tony.

"We got it yesterday from Megan Trelawney."

"A relative?"

"Niece or something."

"Where is she now?"

"She's with Holly Fairweather in the Leaky Cauldron."

Maldue clicked his fingers. "She'll be here shortly." He said as he paced the small room agitatedly.

"Minister, I have a favour to ask?" Tony asked, making Maldue look up at him. "Holly Fairweather is a squib."

"Is she Stormy's daughter?"

"Yes."

"Oh dear, continue Mr Garrett."

"Short version of a long story." Maldue smiled. "She ended up with a wand from a dead wizard, when I interrogated the wand at first; the wand knew it had lost its owner." Maldue nodded. "I didn't see any reason for not giving her the wand back, however, when I checked the wand the following day, its allegiance had changed but, I couldn't work out why. I checked with Pinne Byquest this morning and he agreed with me."

"It's a shame we didn't start with this little mystery first, it would have been a lot less shocking." He said pulling out a chair and sitting down. He stared at Adam and then at Tony. "I know who put you two together, the problem we have, is that someone knew the actual details of this prophecy, or at least they think they did?"

"We assumed it was the Minister for Magic at first, because of these murders, but now," Tony replied.

"You are almost correct, you were brought together to find the murderers, however, it does seem strange that you are both mentioned in this." He waved the parchment around. "However, the someone, who put you two together, as far as I know, did not know of this prophecy, or at least its contents." He waved the roll of parchment around again. "This does not bode well, for any of us, least of all you two."

"You know about this prophecy?" Adam asked, surprised by this revelation.

"We knew of the prophecy, by way of several other prophecies, but not the entire contents."

"You look quite worried?"

"I am. The other prophecies we have, describe some form of trouble affecting a large part of the planet. Up until now, it was assumed that the problems were perhaps, some form of global famine, or global warming as a cause; however, this prophecy foretells something far worse." While Maldue spoke, his arms waved around, helping to make his point.

"What did the other prophecies say exactly?" Asked Adam.

"That my old friend is something that you and young Garrett, will never be allowed to know." Adam caught the way he said old but did not know why he would emphasize it, as he was sure he had never met this man before.

"You make it sound that this prophecy is definitely about the two of us."

"How can it not be, you're both mentioned in a prophecy that was made many years ago." He went into deep thought for a moment. "Someone else knows about this prophecy and although it was not them that brought you two together, they may be trying to manipulate things in the background. I suspect that you would have met in the end, regardless."

Adam moved over and stood next to Tony. "The clicking finger bit is very cool, cooler than the wand waving."

Tony smiled. "Remember, experienced wizards don't actually need a wand for most day to day uses."

Adam looked at him. "So if our killer or killers can do that, how are we supposed to find them or more importantly, stop them?"

"You need a finder," Maldue said from the chair he had settled into. Adam was surprised at how good the old man's hearing was. "And you may already have one."

"We have spells to do that," Tony replied.

"We have a few spells that work for most of the time on general items, but to find a person who is deliberately hiding, you need a finder." Maldue saw the look of confusion on their faces. "You've played Quidditch Mr Garrett; you know what a seeker does?"

Tony nodded, not wanting to mention his appalling record on a broom, suspecting correctly that the old man already knew all about him. Adam looked confused as normal.

"The seeker is generally someone who has a minor ability to find items, like the golden snitch. Sometimes, but not always, the weaker the wizard, the stronger their finder's ability is. Someone with no apparent magical ability could be a very good finder."

"Why do you think we may already have one of these seekers or finders?" Asked Adam.

"This Holly Fairweather comes from a family of pretty powerful witches and wizards and right in the middle is a Squib." Tony moved to get a better view of Maldue. "Somehow she has no magical experience, managed to evade the ministries best and now has a wand that somehow is affected by her." He looked up at them both. "She must have some sort of magical ability, but an unusual one. Luckily for her, one of my pet subjects is unusual magical abilities."

"So you think she could help us?" Adam asked hopefully. "Because we could use some help about now."

"I'd say not, she has no training in any magic I expect, and she could have any one of a dozen magical abilities."

"What like a prophet like her friends Aunt?"

"I feel she might be a Legilimens and a seeker" Adam's head swivelled again. "A Legilimens is a spell that allows you to read people's minds, however, some witches and wizards can possess this power." Maldue continued, seeing Adams confusion.

"That would explain a few things," Said Adam, both the men looked at him waiting for an explanation, which never happened as the door opened and Holly and Megan came in together, both breathless.

"Somebody called us," Said Megan excitedly. "Even Holly felt it."

She stopped when she saw the old man sitting down, smiling at them. Holly moved to the back of the little room, keeping the others between her and the old man.

"It's no good hiding back there young lady," Maldue said kindly. Adam was surprised at how meek Holly was, he assumed growing up in this world gave her a healthy level of respect for Wizards. "Can you give me your wand for a moment?"

She came forward while pulling the wand from her jacket pocket. He took it from her and started rolling it between his hands. "I was talking to your Mother no more than an hour ago. It was not a nice meeting."

"Have you ever had a nice meeting with my mother?" She asked. Maldue frowned at her for a moment before shaking his head. She smiled grimly back at him.

"While I'm looking at Miss Fairweather's wand, can you, Miss Trelawney, tell me how you ended up with your," he paused for a moment and looked her in the eyes, "Aunt's prophecy?"

Megan took a deep breath before starting, her body language, and face showing this was not what she was expecting.

"She's really my Great Aunt." Maldue's eyebrows lifted. "When she left Hogwarts, she came to live with me and my mother and father. I loved it because she was…" She stopped talking, as her eyes grew large.

"Please continue. I expect you had a nickname or two for Sybil, we all did."

"She was a bit dotty and allowed me to get away with all sorts. She used to tell me stories of what went on at Hogwarts. She was right as well."

"I meant about the prophecy Miss Trelawney?" Maldue said gently.

"Sorry. She had an illness that was slowly killing her; St Mungo's could slow it down, but not cure it. She took to her bed and stayed there generally for nearly two years before dying. She taught me how to read and write and I paid her back by reading to her because her eyesight was really bad." She took another deep breath before continuing. "One day she grabbed my hand and started talking in a weird way. I didn't understand what she was saying. She came round a moment later and asked me what had happened, I tried to tell her what she said, but I'd missed pieces of it." She took yet another deep breath. "From that day on, she made me put a notepad by her bed, in case it happened again and I was supposed to write it down." She stopped again for a moment to compose herself, the memories obviously painful. "About eight months later it happened again and I wrote it down. When she came round, she read it and asked me to put it away for the future, because she thought it would be important."

Tony pushed a chair over to Megan and got her to sit.

"About a week before she died, she had another one, the same as before, which I wrote down. This time, whatever was happening, seemed to take all of her energy. She never woke up again." A single tear rolled down Megan's cheek.

"Why didn't you pass it onto the Ministry?" Maldue almost whispered.

"She told me that I should keep it hidden until the right time. She also said that the right time would show itself to me." She was looking down at her hands, unable to look at Maldue.

He had leant forward as Megan had spoken. "Which it did. A prophecy, made over sixty years ago indicated a Trelawney would produce many prophecies during her lifetime. One particular Trelawney prophecy was known; however, details were a little thin, being some years into the future. This Trelawney prophecy has never been found, until today that is."

"Why is the prophecy so important?" She asked.

"You've read it?" They all nodded. "Doesn't it seem strange that the two people named in the prophecy are here today?"

"How could it possibly be us two?" Adam asked.

"Somehow I think Trelawney is a better prophet than she has ever been credited for." He patted her on the knee as he leant towards her. "I suspect she had other moments during her life, when she could see the future and knew that one day, you", he pointed at Megan," would meet these two gentlemen."

He leant back and held the wand out to Holly.

"You have a talent, my dear girl. Something I suspect, that will make your mother very happy."

"Something I'm not going to tell her about, but what is the talent?" She asked excitedly.

"I have absolutely no idea, but the wand recognises you and that is good enough for me."

"What do I do now? I don't know how to use a wand." She stopped for a moment before carrying on. "I don't know how to do anything."

"The wand chooses the wizard, or in this case the witch. I think you need to come and work at the Ministry for a while."

"I can't, I have a job that I quite enjoy in the muggle world." She replied.

"Holly," Adam spoke. She looked up at him. "I would grab this chance with both hands. I'll pull some strings when I get back and have you transfered to the Ministry, like the way Tony is to the police. I'm sure they'll be no problems."

"But I like my job, I'm good at it." She said anger in her voice.

"Yes, you are, but does that include beating up three of your co-workers?"

"I have a flat in Brighton, I have wages, I have commitments." She said, her voice rising as she flung her arms up in the air in exasperation.

"You beat up three co-workers?" Maldue asked. She nodded sheepishly.

"Three quite large male Muggle policemen," Tony added.

Maldue's eyes raised up. "Would you be the reason your brothers would arrive back at Hogwarts after the holidays with various bruises and if I remember correctly, a couple of broken bones on one occasion?"

"How could you know that?" She asked looking shocked.

"We have departments in the Ministry, whose job is to keep an eye on young wizards and witches and make sure they got up to no good while out of school. So, when they come back from holidays, looking like they have been in bar room fights, we have to know the reasons why. Also remembering your brothers, I somehow think they deserved everything they got."

She grinned at him.

Megan and Holly left along with Maldue, chatting away like old friends as they walked along the alley in the bright afternoon sunshine, disappearing into the crowd.

"I have the strange feeling that this prophecy has stirred up a hornet's nest, which is going to cause you a lot of grief." Said Adam after a few moments silence.

"I assumed, wrongly, that it would be chucked out and forgotten about. I didn't think for one minute everyone would take it so seriously. And don't think you're off the hook either, you're in that prophecy as well."

"I'm no wizard and Maldue knows a lot more than he's letting on."

"How do you work that out?"

"The whole time he was talking about that prophecy, he was talking to young Megan. He was telling her something, not us. And I thought you studied all these things in school?"

"We do, but divination is the one subject most students drop at the first chance. I mean staring into a crystal ball, looking at tea leaves, bloody ridiculous." This was the first time Adam had heard Tony disparaging anything in this world. "The stupid thing is." He continued, "that now I know about it, I can change it, so the prophecy is pointless."

"Can you change a prophecy?"

"I have no idea, but you must be able to."

Adam could hear the doubt in his voice. "Perhaps you should have spent more time in those divination classes." Adam's comment received a withering look. "Back to pressing issues, I have the electronic autopsy on our fallen body." Adam had his phone in his hand. "The biggie, Eric died of a fall. Apart from the height of the fall, nothing has been found to indicate he was killed, certainly no signs like the other murders. The local police have put it down to a drone accident."

Tony stopped and stared, his turn to be confused.

"It's a common game with youngsters. They grab a drone by its feet and go for a flight. The big delivery drones can carry a couple of people with ease. There's a flight path not too far from the accident site."

"Wouldn't they be able to check which drone it was?"

"Depends on how hard they look. If no one is chasing for information, they'll file it away. I assume your Ministry won't bother"

Tony nodded. "Clerkin couldn't have been using any protection spells when he fell?"

"So it seems that it could have been an accident. We need to see Lynwood's memories and we need to know where Hulda Scrivens is? What do you know about her?" Adam slipped the phone back in his pocket.

"She's like me, Muggle parents. She lives, lived, not too far from Brighton. Very bright according to the teachers at Hogwarts. She was captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team for two years, means she is very good on a broomstick."

"What the fuck is a Ravenclaw?"

"Name of one of the houses at Hogwarts school."

"Were you in one of these houses?"

"Slytherin."

Adam shook his head. "You'll have to explain this Quidditch thing one of these days."

"If I get the chance, I'll take you to a match. Back to Hulda. When she left Hogwarts, she turned down several Ministry posts. As far as I'm told she went to work in her parents' business."

"So a gifted young witch went back to living in my little world. It must be very difficult not to use your wand or any of the other things you have shown me."

"Magic can be like a drug for some, others spend most of their lives hardly using it, except for very mundane things, cleaning, washing, dusting."

"I find that hard to believe?"

"If you've grown up in a wizarding family, you'll have spent your life seeing and performing magic every day. It's like cooking a meal, its one of those things you use."

"But young witches and wizards from Muggle backgrounds would be different." He pointed at Tony as he spoke.

"Possibly." He said after a moment.

"I think not, you rely on your magic all the time. Could you even operate without it?"

Tony thought for a few moments. "I'm not sure, it has become part of the person I am. It's automatic."

"So our young Witch would not adjust to Muggle life again after several years of being totally reliant on magic, more importantly, having to hide these amazing abilities from all her friends. You understand better than most, you told me you lost all your friends and you had to hide what you could do."

Silence descended as Tony tried to work out his feelings on the subject.

"Here's another idea." Adam continued after a pause. "The place in Sweden or Norway, magical community, London, loads of magic places, large magical community. Brighton?" He left the sentence hanging.

"I have no idea. There are quite a few villages around the UK that wizarding folk live with Muggles quite happily."

"Are there any magical only villages?"

"Yes, Hogsmeade in the UK and Lykkeligdal, there's one in southern Ireland. I assume there are others."

"Could there be a magical community near Brighton?"

"No idea, but were in the right place to find out." He slipped his wand out. "Accio maps." Several drawers flew open, pieces of parchment sprang out, and several large folded maps took to the air, all of which flew towards Tony, almost burying him. As he pushed the paper into some sort of a pile, he could hear the wheezed laughter coming from Adam, he placed the pile of maps and parchments on the nearest desk.

"No reliance on magic at all," Adam said, taking a couple of the maps. As he leant back, another pile of parchment fell on the floor. "Your young lady friend is not going to be too happy when she sees this mess. She's likely to give you a good telling off." Tony looked at him wondering where this was going. "Somehow I don't think you'd mind that too much."

"We have history, which would not allow anything like that to happen."

Adam waited while Tony continued looking through the maps. "Are you going to tell me why?"

Tony stopped and looked at Adam. "No."

"It can't be that bad."

Tony looked back up. "It is that bad and it will stay with me for the rest of my life."

"She likes you that much is very clear."

"Adam, Edlyn's grandmother was a Veela."

"What the fuck is a Veela?"

"A magical being."

"And what the fuck are you, Mr Wizard?"

Tony smiled. "No. Veela's are something different. How do you feel when you're around her?"

Adam thought for a moment." She's very attractive."

"That's not what I asked." He sounded like Adam in the way he replied.

Adam gave him a stare. "She has a certain something that's difficult to ignore I'll admit."

"That's her Veela talent, she has some form of attraction ability that switches on and off at different times. She always said she has no control over it, but I'm not sure. She's very difficult to ignore, especially if she likes you."

"What happens if she doesn't like you?"

"I heard rumours at school and if half of them were true, I'd be very scared of her."

"Tony, you are scared of her," Adam replied laughing.

"Precisely." He said placing a folded map on the table in front of Adam. He pointed at the map showing several small red marks placed on the map near a small village. The map also showed the coast with Brighton a few kilometres away.

"What do the red marks mean?" Adam asked, leaning in for a close look.

"No idea, but I suspect they are the location of known witches and wizards or wizarding homes or even communities."

"So a trip to Brighton is on the cards again," Adam said rising from the chair.

"Seems that way, we can be down there is a couple of minutes."

"Not this time, we can go to the yard and get a car. We need to do a little recce before blundering in like we did at the Moon Market."

Tony nodded in agreement. "That went well didn't it? They made a fool out of me and nearly killed you."

Adam nodded. "We also need to start looking at our suspects and try to find out what their movements were prior to each murder. I still think we're looking at two separate cases. The murders of the Muggles do not sit right with the other problems. I think this Hulda is trying to form some sort of army to make a prophecy come true."

"Could it be the prophecy, we just found?" Tony asked, already knowing the answer.

"I expect so, but we still need to see these memories."

"Dammit, I forgot to ask Maldue for a Pensive."

"Can you use the owl again?" He nodded.

"I'll do it when we come back from Brighton."

"What does Hulda look like?" He asked, changing the subject while he tapped out the request for a car on his tablet.

"Blond hair, blue eyes, slim, around five five."

"I just realised I have a picture of her on this." He called up the picture. "Is that actual, or has she used some of that polyjuice stuff?"

"I checked with the Ministry and one of her teachers at Hogwarts, both confirmed it, so unless she has changed her looks since, then pretty accurate."

"You could walk past her in the street and never see her."

The usual comfortable silence descended, while both of them thought.

"Why are we going to drive all the way to Brighton, when I can get us there in a second?" Tony asked after a moment.

"My boss had a chat with me earlier. He asked me, how I had managed to get from London to Wales and back in a matter of minutes, then how I got to Sweden. Mine, yours, and Holly's phones are recording everything we do."

"So it's you that's being tracked by your people. Do you know how?"

Adam slipped the clear plastic tablet from his pocket and held it up to Tony.

"Why would they watch you? What would your people gain?"

"We don't do it to gain, this tracking by our phones is something we had for years, it's everything a policeman needs, tracker, notebook, camera, still and movie, it records our conversations in real time and puts them on the cloud and provides communications anywhere in the world. We've had them for so long, we forget how much of our lives are being watched, monitored and recorded, especially a policeman. The most important thing is that with these tablets, is that I can access hundreds of databases across the world. If I need information on someone, I can get it in moments."

"So they are watching your movements?"

"Not as such. The commissioner has some software that informs him if something is out of the normal for any police officer." He paused. "Actually, it's probably the AI that's watching, anyway, skipping from country to country is out of the normal, especially if it's halfway around the world. I suspect that Holly's boss will be getting an alert if he's not already had one. Remember how we brought Holly to London."

"I think the Ministry knows all of this and just sorts it out afterwards. It's something they are very good at, we have an entire department devoted to it.

"That would be the department you work for," Adam said keeping his voice low.

Tony sighed and nodded. "Then what are you worried about?" Asked Tony not knowing where this was going.

"That someone else might have access to this information, other than my boss. Another problem we have is that everything we do, say or hear is recorded. Everything we have seen or done is now in the cloud."

"I'm puzzled as to why you're worried about a muggle watching what you're doing?"

"You've said that a large number of witches and wizards work for muggle organisations. Who's to say one of your lot is working for the police and is watching our every move, or more worrying, that someone in the police could be under the control or in the pay of one of your people?"

"You seem to think it's our side that's crooked?"

"Don't you?"

"It does seem likely."

"How many Muggles know about your side?"

"Lots, from your PM downwards."

"Fair enough. Shall we get on the road?"

"Stupid question, if your people can track you anyway, why are you using a car that they can track?"

"If we use your method, we could be tracked, if we use my method, we could be tracked. I'm hoping that whoever is monitoring us, is using the phone. So us travelling by car, should confuse them."

"Adam, you're tying yourself in ever decreasing knots with your conspiracy theories."

"You're probably right, but I have a horrible feeling that we are being manipulated by whoever, and now this prophecy, I'm trying to make things difficult for them, just in case I'm right."


	3. Chapter 3 Ormstone TAL

Chapter Three.

Ormstone.

In the end, they drove, or at least they allowed the car to drive them, Adam using the time to go through his case notes, updating them on his phone as the car drove itself. This was proving to be a little more difficult than he expected, as he had to leave out all the magic parts, which didn't leave much. He was more than a little shocked to find that Tony had never driven in his life. Even though the car drove itself, a qualified driver had to be present, so Adam sat in the driver's seat, with his phone in his hand. Tony started to use his own phone, asking questions of Adam as they went along.

An hour and a half later, the car parked itself in a small hiker's car park around a kilometre from the village shown on the map. He activated the display panel so if anyone came and stood next to the car, all the body panels would flash blue, and a voice would explain that the car was an on-duty police car. Also, any number of cameras scattered around it would make sure no one damaged it, or at least they wouldn't get away with it. The way out of the car park was along a well-used and signposted footpath.

The walk took a little over twenty minutes, both were sweaty when they arrive, as the day was turning out to be hot and dry again. Ormstone Square was little more than a dozen old cottages. No street lights were in evidence; the gardens, cultivated with plants Adam couldn't name, although they didn't look too unusual, although the scents did. The houses were very old, the beams curved or bent or in some cases completely warped. The roofs thatched, recently Adam thought, assuming wrongly that magic was the reason for this.

"Tony, can you tell if someone has put any sort of barrier up?" Adam asked just before they entered the square.

"Nothing I can't see or feel." He replied looking around. "They'd look like the ones we saw at the Moon Market."

They stopped talking as someone moved from behind a cropped hedge. He wore a battered straw Panama hat against the glare of the sun, which covered his face and eyes. He came to the gate as they approached. It was obvious to Adam, when he saw the mans' embroidered gown, that they were in the right place.

"Good morning, we don't get many visitors down here. Are you lost or out for a hike?" The man's voice was cultured and clear, although, Adam thought his eyes looked a little vacant.

"No," Tony said walking up to the gate. "I'm from the Ministry; can you tell us where the Scriven's residence is?"

"You're outside it."

"Are you Mr Scriven's?"

"No, the Scriven's are on holiday. I'm keeping the garden neat for them."

"Where have they gone?"

The man looked vacant for a moment. He slipped his hat off, showing his baldhead, which he ran his hand over. "Somewhere abroad I think." He wiped his brow.

"When did they go on holiday?"

Again, a strange look seemed to slip across the man's face. "Not long ago. They'll be back soon."

"Thanks for your help; we'll be on our way." Tony smiled at the old man. He nodded, replaced his hat and dropped back behind the hedge. The sound of clipping came from the hedge.

They moved away and stopped in the shade of the huge oak tree that dominated the centre of the grass square.

"Is it my imagination or was he on something," Adam asked.

"I'm sure he's a muggle and he's been got at."

"This place is very creepy and why is he dressed like a wizard?"

Tony looked back at the man who was now raking the clippings into a pile on the brown parched lawn. "I never noticed."

"Shall we knock on a few doors?" Tony nodded and they headed off to the next house.

By the fifth house, they were starting to feel as if the apocalypse had happened and they hadn't been told. Nobody answered any of the doors. Adam had tried them all and found them locked.

Tony knocked on the next one, a smaller cottage, set back from the others, but just as immaculate.

Adam came up beside him. "There's someone upstairs watching us out of the window. I'll take a walk around the back."

"No," Tony said urgently. "I'll go round the back, I can fight back if they're dangerous, and you can't."

Adam knocked on the door again, smiling to himself, as Tony seemed to be taking control of the situation. He tried the handle as Tony stepped around the corner out of sight. The door opened, on well-oiled hinges. The wooden floor shone with years of polishing. A neat, if slightly threadbare runner led to a narrow staircase. Adam ducked under the small door into another world, the furniture was all antiques, as polished as the floor, ornaments adorned a small table next to the door; low black beams enhanced the old world look.

"I wondered how long it would be before you two turned up here, I've been watching you going to all the other houses." A cultured foreign sounding voice came from a tall man who was currently walking down the stairs, his head dipped to miss the beams.

"I'm glad you were expecting us?" Adam asked, starting to feel uneasy, trying to place the accent, and failing. He held his tablet out with the forces logo on it. The man was dressed in an oddly styled black suit. The jacket seemed to have tails like a morning suit. He had short thick dark brown hair, combed and looked as if he had oiled it.

"May I help you?"

"Police," Adam replied holding his tablet a little higher, very confused at the man's comments.

"You're not from around here then." His accent, not as strong as before. For a moment, the man's face contorted as if he was trying to stop himself from doing something. The smile dropped and his body stilled, then the smile reappeared. "Sorry did you say something?"

"No. I'm looking for The Scriven's? Have you seen them?" Again, a strange look crossed the man's face. He shivered as if someone had poured cold water over him.

"Haven't seen them for some time, have you tried their home?"

"Aren't they on holiday?" Adam asked, feeling more and more worried as the conversation continued.

"The Scriven's never go on holiday." Again, a shiver gripped the man, his face started to contort, the placid smile returned.

"Are you feeling alright Sir?"

"Never felt better." Another series of contortions worked across the man's face.

"Can you tell me your name, Sir?"

"Waddington." He said before another shudder wracked his body. The man gasped, his face became blank before he collapsed to the floor. Behind him stood Tony his wand in his hand and a smile on his face.

"Well, that was interesting." He said as he slipped the wand away.

"I assume he's under some sort of spell?"

"Certain of it."

"Can you get him out of it so we can talk?"

"Probably not a good idea. He could be a very powerful wizard, he seems to be trying to overcome the spell or curse put on him."

Adam nodded, realising the harm this man could do to both of them if they got it wrong. "How do we find out?"

"We get the ministry to do it.

"Do you want to organise that, while I have a look around the house?" Adam asked as he headed into the house, not waiting for an answer from Tony.

He wandered around the immaculate, although small house. Nothing was out of place; it almost looked like a show home. He wondered if they had one of them elves to do the work for them. Downstairs was a small living room and a kitchen with an exit to the immaculate rear garden, colourful blooms all around the neat lawn. He could see a gate at the bottom, Tony's route in. He pulled a cupboard door open and looked inside, surprised to find a small bathroom. He checked the other cupboards which contained nothing out of the ordinary.

The thick smooth beams were just shy of Adams height and so far, he had scraped his scalp gently three times. Ducking again, he ascended the narrow stairs onto a small landing where he found two bedrooms. The first room he went into was the larger rear one. Out the windows, he could see a small wooden hut at the bottom behind a bush, hidden from the kitchen window, but little else of interest. The wardrobes in the largest room were full of clothes, both male and female, the bed made.

Lastly, he checked the front bedroom and found it the same as the first, only the wardrobe was empty, the bed was an uncovered mattress. Movement out the window caught his eyes as he went to turn and join Tony. The square, empty when they first arrived was now quite crowded. A dozen or so people were standing looking at the house they were in. Others were appearing from what he thought were empty houses around the square, all heading towards them.

"Tony, we have company out the front, a lot of company." He called down the stairs.

He swore loudly as he went to go down the stairs and scalped himself yet again, this time it hurt, as the beams upstairs were lower than the ones downstairs.

Rubbing his head, he ran down the stairs just as Tony reappeared. Together they looked out the little window beside the door.

"Do you think they're dangerous"? Asked Adam.

"I have no idea." He said stepping back from the window.

"That means the guy," he pointed at the floor in the hallway where the man's body was supposed to be, "is a muggle."

"Yes, I took him to St. Mungo's to check if he's had anything done to him."

"He was acting odd and he was dressed very strangely."

"I agree he did seem a little odd."

"Perhaps Scriven's parents really are on holiday and that guy we met outside really is a gardener." He gestured outside.

"This whole village is a little odd, I wonder how long it's been cut off."

"Does it matter, what are you going to do about the crowd outside?"

Tony raised his eyebrows at Adam. "They're probably under some sort of hex, so I'm loath to do anything painful to them. On the other hand, they might not be hexed and we could be in real trouble."

"They're all quite old," Adam said surveying the growing crowd outside in the square.

"As I've said before, Wizards and Witches live a lot longer than muggles and with age come's experience."

Adam looked around at him. "How long"? He asked.

"A hundred and fifty is not unusual. In fact, during one lesson at school, we were told of a wizard who lived for over six hundred years. I can't remember why though."

Adam had looked back out of the window, now looked back at Tony. "So on top of all this bloody magic business, you get to live longer as well. That's not bloody fair." He said indignantly.

"Adam, magic, as you have said a couple of times is a bloody dangerous business; it's not unusual for a wizard or witch to kill themselves experimenting. If you're clever enough to survive to a ripe old age, I think it's justified."

Adam stared at him before shaking his head and looking back out of the window. He suddenly looked back. "That's why you thought I was so old when we first met, isn't it"? Tony looked back out the window, sensibly ignoring the question.

Another couple came out of the end house and walked across the square to join the others. Not one of them was young, being, in Adams opinion, well past pensioner age, all having various shades of grey hair.

"It's like the Midwitch Cuckoos grew up and got old," Adam said moving away from the door.

Tony smiled, remembering the book his father owned, along with a small library, nearly all of which were science fiction. Tony had spent time at home during his school years reading these old books, which were becoming rarer every year. Everyone had electronic devices of some sort to read on. Paper books had gone, except for those in people's private collections or for the odd special edition of a classic. Tony had never been able to use the tablets his parents had brought him, having to make do with old books his mother and father had collected. His mother's books were always in Dutch, which he had problems reading, much to her annoyance.

"If this was my manor, I would go out there and wave my warrant card around and demand answers." He paused. "This is your manor, get your wand out, wave it around and lay down the law."

"And if what I said earlier is true and they are not hexed, they are going to be a damn sight more powerful than me, plus there are loads of them. And I don't go around waving my wand." He added angrily.

"None of them have wands."

"I've said before, the wand is a conduit." He replied in exasperation.

"So what do we do, run"? Adam asked anger starting to creep into his voice.

"Honestly, yes."

"Fight another day you mean."

"Yes, but I don't want to. We seem to have turned up unexpectedly."

"The enemy didn't expect us to be here."

"Yes, which means I'd like to stay and ask a few more questions, without getting my head blown off, or worse."

"We could go out the back way and circle around, pick a couple off and take them back to where ever you take them."

"And if they are supposed to be here."

"Tony, you said that Hulda's parents were non-magical"?

"Muggles, yes." Tony frowned and looked out the window at the small aged crowd.

"I'm beginning to not like that word," Adam replied following Tony's gaze. "Sod it." He said as he opened the front door and barged outside. He walked down the short pathway wielding his tablet about. It was unclear as to whether the villages were hexed as they all looked confused at Adam as he announced he was a police officer. He pushed open the gate and walked up to the nearest person, an old white-bearded man wearing, what looked like, leather trousers and a work shirt.

"Can you tell me your name"? He asked his voice loud and commanding.

"I'm so glad you're here. " He replied in a shaky voice, totally ignoring Adams request. "We've lost a couple of people from the village and were very worried about them."

"Who have you lost"? Asked Adam, more gently this time as the other villagers had crowded around him.

"The Scriven's have been missing for weeks."

Another man piped up. "And the Colonel has been acting very strangely for some time now." The man pointed at the house he had just left.

"What about the gardener over there"? Adam asked as he spotted the first person that they had spoken to, come out of the garden he had been mowing and was now walking towards them.

"That's Tom, he had a stroke a couple of years ago. He gets very confused, won't take his medicine."

Adam looked back at the house and watched Tony come out, looking warily at the people. His left hand was across his chest, Adam realised he was probably clutching his wand in readiness. He walked up to Adam as the locals made a gap for him.

"We may have made a mistake," Adam said in his ear.

"Mug…" He stopped finishing the word. "Non-magical folk." He whispered.

Adam turned to the old man again. "Has anything strange happened here recently"? He asked.

All the people in the village had their eyes on Tony. An old lady, no more than five feet tall, including a mop of grey hair, stooped with age, touched his hand. "Are you like Hulda"? She asked her eyes full of what looked like hope.

"Marge, you don't ask questions like that." The first old man said angrily.

"I am," Tony replied. "What do you know about her"? He asked.

She looked around at the rest of the villagers who were all now smiling. They all crowded around Tony, talking at the same time, leaving Adam alone.

Adam relaxed as he watched Tony deal with the many people, all of whom seemed very happy. He realised they were not in any danger, and moved off down the cobbled street until he came to the corner, on the opposite side of the village. His shoulders dropped as he saw an almost brand new electric car, parked in a small car park, beside a narrow tarmacked road leading out of the village. He shook his head, certain that he would check his own maps in future rather than trust Tony's bits of paper. He used his tablet to call the car and get it to drive around to the village.

He looked around and saw Tony coming towards him, with most of the village trailing behind him.

"What have you found out?" He asked as they all arrived.

"Everyone here is a non-magical person, except for Hulda."

"Does everyone know"?

"Yes, we do," Marge said as she arrived last. "She's been removing the problems with my arthritis for years."

"Why didn't you go to the doctors, they cured arthritis years ago"? Adam asked.

"I have to take tablets all the time. When Hulda clears it, it lasts for months."

"She cured my high blood pressure." A tall man at the back spoke up.

They all started rolling off a list of complaints, some serious, some not so, that Hulda had cured or eased. It was clear they thought a lot about her and they all knew she was a witch, but they were wondering where she had gone and more importantly, to them, when would she be back.


	4. Chapter 4 Scotland Yard TAL

Scotland Yard

It took most of the morning to get out of Ormstone; the locals bringing them tea and biscuits as Tony put right a myriad of medical complaints. The man who Tony had sent to St Mungo's was a muggle, known as the Colonel, and a former undertaker who was suffering dementia. St Mungo's felt it right to cure this before sending him back. He had come bounding out of the house and shook both of their hands. He had changed out of his undertaker's clothes and dressed like everyone else, in jeans and shirts and had chatted excitedly to all those around him, happy to be back amongst old friends.

They were told that the Scriven's were on holiday, at their villa in southern Spain and wouldn't be back for a while. Hulda, they were informed had left several months beforehand, after an argument with her parents, but she had come back often, to make sure everyone was still all right, fixing their ailments. Adam wondered what would happen to them all without Hulda.

During the drive back to London, Tony had continued learning how to use the tablet, while they discussed where they were in the case. They had decided that the records department might be a good place to visit, even though they could get the information they needed from the tablets, Adam decided it would be good for Tony to see the heart of this department and try to understand how it worked.

It was late-afternoon as the two of them ambled through the old part of Scotland Yard, heading for the records department, tucked away from the main day-to-day areas.

Adam found the door almost by accident. He pushed it open and a man sitting opposite the door looked up in surprise. His smile dropped, and a scowl appeared.

"What a surprise the great DCI Croft has turned up." He looked at Tony. "Let me guess, your name is Anthony Garrett?" He bellowed.

"Hello Jerry, since when was I ever the great anything? How the hell are you doing?" He walked over and held out his hand only to have it ignored.

"Don't you hello Jerry me. Do you know how much trouble you two are causing me?" The man's face was red with anger.

"I'm fine Jerry; you look good, a little tense perhaps. What seems to be the problem?" Adam replied trying to keep the conversation light, while Tony tried to keep the smirk off his face, failing as he took in the office behind Jerry.

Adam finally noticed what Tony was looking at. The office space behind him and the offices behind that, were full of people milling around, equipment scattered all over the floor, looking as if a bomb had gone off.

"Auditors?" He asked, still trying to lighten the mood.

Jerry scowled back. "I wish they were auditors. I have every single contractor and sub-contractor of every software company in this city and several that have flown in from other countries, in here at the moment, trying to work out what is fucking wrong with our systems." He ran his hands through his hair, making it stick up in places.

Adam knew he should not, but he had too. "Why?" He asked keeping his voice light.

"Why, he asks, as if he didn't know."

Realisation hit as he saw Tony's head drop and his hand go over his face.

"Would this be something to do with our tablets?"

"The whole buildings camera system went down yesterday for twenty bloody minutes, which started in the interview room you two were using. And yes your digital notebooks are doing strange things unless that is, you can time travel?"

Adam's head shot round as he looked at Tony.

"Don't go there" Tony replied in a whisper. Adam's eyes grew large as what he said sank in, leaving him at a loss for words.

"What are you after? I don't think for one minute this is social visit." Said Jerry his manner shifting now he had gotten the anger out of his system.

Tony leaned forward and whispered into Adam's ear. "I recognise someone in here." He ducked down behind a cabinet.

"Do you have any new staff, Jerry?"

"All of our staff are new. Apart from the hundred people, here because of the cameras and tablet problem, we also have twenty support staff. Some people in here don't speak English." He paused for a moment looking at Adam's face, before realising Adam was being serious. "We work with temporary staff all the time. Young Angela's the latest." His voice changed, deepening.

"When did she start?"

"Last week, she comes in when I need her, at short notice. Our usual temp girl rang in sick, apparently long term."

"What background checks do you do?"

"None, the company that supplies the staff do all the vetting, we then use profiling software to find out whether they are suitable."

"You trust the company?" Adam asked, surprised at this news.

"If they supply a non vetted person and we find out, the contract is ended. No if, no buts. Lose a contract here, and your company goes bust overnight."

Adam watched Tony slip his wand out of his sleeve over the top of Jerry's head.

"Can I have a chat with her?"

Tony's head shot round to look at Adam.

"Why?" Jerry asked.

"We think you might have a leak."

"This owt to do with the mess we're in?"

"Very much so."

Jerry nodded and touched the screen on his desk.

"Angela, can you come in for a moment?"

Adam saw a tall slim woman stand up in the office next door; she had short blond hair, wearing dark, neat trousers and jacket. He recognised her, almost about to reach for his head where she had hit him a few days ago.

Adam looked at Tony, who had picked up some papers and was looking down hiding his face.

The door opened, and the woman came through staring at Jerry.

"You wanted me, Sir?" She asked.

"Yes, the two DCI's here would like a word with you." He pointed at each of them.

The smile on the woman's face dropped as she saw Adam and then Tony. She reached inside her coat and pulled something out, a bright light came at Tony, and his own wand flicked and deflected the spell that smashed into the wall next to Jerry. Tony's wand flashed across the room. The woman flew to one side and retaliated with a similar blast of light, which demolished the glass door leading to the corridor. More sparks and light blasted from Tony's wand, this time far more vicious than before, as the entire glass wall to the next office lifted from the floor, flew backwards in one great piece, before wrapping itself around the desks, equipment, floor supports and staff. Screams from the people inside echoed from the walls. An emergency alarm joined in, adding more noise.

Jerry had leapt up and was standing in amazement as he watched the carnage. The woman stood for a moment and light flashed from her wand, smacking into Jerry and sending him rolling through the air, crashing into debris already on the floor. Tony's next blast hit the desk that was hiding the woman. The desk and the woman travelled back at speed, colliding with the wall. The woman behind the desk, screamed, joining the other screams, as another alarm rang, at a higher frequency.

Adam had dropped flat on the floor as soon as he saw the woman move and was watching the display in disbelief at the power being thrown around the room.

Tony leapt up and crossed the room just in time for the desk to explode into small pieces, showering Tony and the rest of the room. The woman's head appeared as Tony turned towards her, his wand raised. She disappeared. Tony screamed in anger. He wiped the blood from his face where a shard of material from the desk had hit him.

"Tony get after her, I'll look after this," Adam yelled from the centre of the carnage.

"Get the Ministry to sort the mess out." Then Tony disappeared.

Adam looked around the room, multiple sirens still ringing, hurting his ears, masking groans and cries of the hurt and scared people mingling into the horror he had just witnessed. He took his tablet from his pocket and spoke into it. While he waited, he moved over the prone body of Jerry. His face was blood smeared from a large gash across his temple. He checked his pulse and found it slow and steady. Someone answered the phone attached to his ear.

"Who is this?" A voice retorted.

"It's DCI Croft Commission Nugent."

"What the hell is going on, every alarm in the building is going off."

"Call the PM's secretary and tell him we have a problem that requires the Ministry's particular talents, urgently."

"I heard explosions, are we under attack?"

"No, I'll explain later, tell them to come to my location."

Adam flicked the phone off and slipped it back into his pocket. He got up and stepped through into the other what was left of the wall leading to the next office. He could hear someone crying behind a desk. He looked over and found a young woman, covered in small particles of glass and fibres that had been the wall, her clothing ripped in places, and he could see blood flowing from a large gash on her face. He helped her to her feet, feeling her shake as she grabbed hold of him. As he looked around the room, he could see many bodies, covered with debris and most of them were not moving.

Two police officers came running in, fully armoured and kitted out with their guns strapped across their chests. Other Policemen and women started to come through the hole in the corridor wall, filling the room up. Each one stopping in shock and stared at the carnage for a moment. Quietly two dropped down and started checking Jerry over, who was still unconscious, other's came through and helped those in the office. Another policewoman took the sobbing girl of Adam and led her away.

Commissioner Nugent came through the door and stopped, surveyed the scene for a moment, until he saw Adam and walked over.

"Bomb?"

"No. Have you made that call?"

"Yes, he said not to worry, help is on the way."

"Good," Adam said about walking away.

"Good," Exclaimed the Commissioner, "this is Scotland Yard and a small war had just broken out, how can the Ministry help?"

"When they get here, you'll see."

Adam turned and saw them a group of police moving Jerry.

"Lads, leave him where he is." He pointed at two armed officers. "You two, close the entrance to this floor, allow no one in or out. Understand?"

They both nodded and turned away.

Tony watched Hulda disappear from the carnage in the police station, bodies were scattered everywhere, damaged desks, walls and equipment were still settling after flying across the rooms, alarms clamoured in his head. He heard Adam yell at him to get Hulda. He yelled back, telling Adam to contact the ministry, hoping he heard him. He allowed his wand to find where she was, a moment later he was in an old wood; the sudden silence seemed just as deafening, heat battered at him after the air-conditioned office. In front of him stood Hulda, she saw him at the same moment, turned and ran, limping while dodging around the huge trunks. She flicked her arm over her head and a lump of foliage beside him shattered into pieces. He leapt to one side and started after her, keeping her in sight, but behind the large trunks so she couldn't get a clear shot. She moved into a clearing at speed, allowing him a clear view, he flicked the wand and watched her throw herself to one side, his shot missing. He followed it with three more spells. She moved again, seeming to know where he was aiming and dodging effectively, the last one hit the shield spell she managed to cast, a blue glow flashed for a moment. She disappeared again. Tony allowed his wand to pull him after her.

He reappeared in a busy street, shoppers screamed as Hulda pushed several to one side in her headlong rush, one older woman crashed to the pavement. She kept dodging people, looking over her shoulder at Tony, who was cantering along, passing straight through the gap she had opened. A hundred yards further on, he was only twenty feet behind her, when she spun and flicked her wand at him. He flung himself to one side, luckily, her spell, poorly aimed hit a lamppost mounted metal waste bin that took the full force of the spell, rubbish and shards of metal and plastic shot across the street, somehow missing the bystanders. Tony stopped to make sure there were no injuries, allowing Hulda to increase her lead again.

With no one hurt, he was off again, this time he picked the pace up, closing in again. She looked over her shoulder again, seeing him closer than before, she apparated again followed a moment later by Tony.

More woods surrounded them on two sides; the other two a curved river. Tony was still running as he appeared and headed straight for her, his breathing becoming ragged, a pain in his side from stitch made itself known. She panicked and seemed to fling her wand at him. A loud bang echoed through his head as the shot narrowly missed him. Again, she turned and ran. He was close now waiting for her to make a mistake, which she did. He flicked a binding spell at her, which hit her, but did nothing, not even slowing her down. Another flick and a stronger spell hit her squarely in the back. Again, she carried on unaffected. She plunged into the trees, he lost his temper, and flung a much more dangerous spell, like the one in the office, only this time there his anger helped to push the spell. It missed the girl and for a moment, everything went quiet as the spell he sent hit a huge tree, much bigger than the girl. The tree exploded outwards in splinters, completely covering Hulda. Her body was flung upwards and to one side as if a giant hand had thrown her. She ricocheted from tree to tree crashing through the foliage until she came to rest in a crumpled heap.

Tony cantered up to where she lay, keeping his wand at the ready, the other hand pressed against his side while taking deep breaths. He reached down and checked her breathing, then waved his wand over her and found she was unconscious, she was hurt, badly. Dozens of large splinters were sticking out of the once neat suit she was wearing, the side of her face, bloody from more hits. Her arm was broken in at least two places. Taking his time, he looked around the area until he found her wand, point first, in the ground, scratched and battered but whole. It lifted from the ground and flew to his hand, which was slipped into his pocket. He reached back and placed a hand on the girl's arm and disappeared, leaving nothing leaves to continue falling through the air. A loud groan came from the tree. Slowly the tree leaned at the point of damage before a huge cracking sound heralded its demise as it crashed to the ground taking some smaller ones with it.

Tony and the unconscious Hulda appeared in the foyer of St Mungo's. He barely made it to his feet before the matron was in front of him, her face full of amazement.

"What the hell have you done now"? She asked looking down at the injured woman.

"Matron, she is extremely dangerous. Contact the ministry to get at least two guards on her. Keep her unconscious until I get back. If you feel the need, you can fix her up, but if you don't, I wouldn't worry too much about it."

The matron's mouth fell open.

"You've been around that policeman for too long Mr Garrett. You know the first thing I will do is sort her injuries out."

"No." He said anger in his voice. "Guards first, also search her, empty her pockets and put everything in a box for me."

"Why?"

"This is Hulda Scrivens." As he turned to leave, in his head he added, I hope.

"I'll let Luthor know". She called after him. He looked back too late, they had disappeared.

"Croft, we need to get medical care in here now". Shouted the Commissioner, taking his phone out of his pocket.

"No, medical care is on the way, along with a specialised clean-up crew." Adam yelled over the noise of the sirens. "Can you get the alarms switched off Sir?"

The Commissioner held the phone to his ear before speaking, the ear piece being useless with all the noise.

"Get the alarms off now; also stop the emergency services and turn them around, the problem is under control."

While he was still talking, first one alarm, then the other stopped. The room switched to a preternatural silence, broken by quiet sobbing and groaning, muttered voices from the police helping the victims. Everyone was looking at Adam. He hoped that the call the commissioner had made had reached the right people.

Everyone's head switched from Adam to the strange much haired little man suddenly standing in the centre of all the carnage. Adam breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Minister Ledford it is so good to see."

"Maldue please Adam, no formality required."

He turned towards the commission as three more people arrived, two of them dressed as Tony was the first time they met, all in black.

"You must be commissioner Nugent?" Said Maldue walking across the rubble with his hand outstretched. Adam looked at the newcomers, realising the third strange looking man was the one who had accosted him outside the Minister's office the other day and had put a spell on him. Adam remembered his name was Willard Endicott.

He smiled and gave Adam a wink. "You two look after the injured, I'll sort the clean-up." He said to the two Auror's. He moved off completely ignoring Adam. He took his wand out as the two younger men headed off to the injured. His wand was waved, and the room righted itself. The police in the room stood in amazement as the wall levelled by Tony pulled itself back to its original location, the desk he blasted across the room unbuckled itself and slid across the floor. To the rear of the commissioner, the corridor did likewise.

Within moments, the rooms looked as pristine as it was when he and Tony had first entered it. Jerry was on his feet, blood and bruises gone, looking very bemused. The other injured, including the girl he had picked up, we also standing, uninjured and looking just as bemused. Adam noticed that the police that helped also looked odd. The only person, bar himself, that did not look confused was the commissioner who was looking around the room, taking everything in, while trying to listen to Maldue.

Adam jumped when Willard whispered in his ear.

"Where is young Garrett?"

"He went after Hulda."

"She's a dangerous one that, I hope he's all right."

"No Minister, Tony's the dangerous one, Hulda will run for her life about now, I hope." He added.

"That's what worries me, a cornered person will do anything to get away, and you should know that."

"I have a great faith in Tony."

"So do I young man."

Willard walked off to join the other two men who were helping the last injured person to their feet. The three as one disappeared leaving Maldue still talking to the Commissioner.

Adam walked over. "I think we should retire to your office Commissioner."

"Good idea," Maldue said taking the commissioners arm, leading him out of the room. "We need to be out of here before your people come round and start asking questions."

"Back to work everyone." Bellowed Adam as they exited the room. This seemed to spur everyone into action.

They arrived at the commissioner's office, he sat down looking quite confused, staring at the desktop, as if he was high on drugs.

"I'd better get out of here before he comes round." Said Maldue, his voice had changed from its usual singsong quality and was now hard and unforgiving. He held out a small disc towards Adam. "This will get you noticed in the Leaky Cauldron at any time, just show it to the barman and he'll contact someone who will come and get you if you're not with Tony, or he is injured."

"Thank you; I could have done with this a couple of days ago". Adam said taking the small disc and slipping it into his pocket.

"I think you've done rather well without any help". Before he could reply, Maldue disappeared. He decided to make his own disappearance and left the commissioner alone.


	5. Chapter 5 Interview TAL

Interview

Adam left the commissioner, ambling back to his office, trying to understand what had just happened. He entered the office and stopped in his tracks as he found Tony, still covered in blood from the cuts on his face, sitting in his seat, feet on the desk.

"I assume by the silence you got hold of the Ministry?" He asked.

"Yes, Maldue and the guy I met at the Ministry, Endicott and a couple of others turned up. Took them about two minutes to put everything back in its place, damage gone and everybody involved can't remember anything, including the commissioner."

"The big guys turned up. They must think this is important."

"The way they cleaned the mess up was like they had done this sort of thing quite a few times in the past. Am I right?"

"More often than you would think or like. We have teams of people going around putting things right or covering up magic use. Hopefully, they will have sent someone to clean up the mess we made in the street.

"Where was that?"

"Somewhere in London, I think, busy high street."

"Did you get the girl?"

"Yes."

"Where is our Miss Scrivens, if that's who she is?"

"In St Mungo's," Tony said sheepishly. "I think I may have run out of goodwill with the matron."

"Why is she in St Mungo's?" Adam asked slowly.

"I think I may have hurt her, a little."

"How little?"

"Broken arm, a few ribs, unconscious, as far as I could tell, she was covered in splinters from a tree I destroyed and bleeding from most of them quite badly."

"She's not dead then, St Mungo's will soon fix her," Adam replied calmly.

"I lost control." Tony's voice sounded dead. "If I had actually hit her, I would have blown her to pieces."

"I saw what she did to the office upstairs, and I saw what you can do. She was aiming to kill you. You retaliated and brought her back alive. That a plus in anyone's books."

"When I in was training, I never felt what I felt today," Tony said slowly. He leant forward and rubbed at his forehead.

Adam sat down beside him. "Schools out Tony, this is the real world, people out there, your side or mine, will kill to get what they want."

"I enjoyed the power, it's like a drug. I didn't know I could do so much damage."

"Everyone is allowed to let off steam. When you're up against the wall, you react; it could save your life." Adam waited for this sink in, he hoped. "I realise now, that your day-to-day activities can be far more dangerous than ours. Bloody hell, you were flying a broomstick at eleven years old."

Tony sniggered.

"I have one question for you?" Adam asked.

"You can ask me anything and I will tell you what I know."

"Two guys turned up with the Ministers, they were dressed like you did the first time we met."

"They'll be an Auror and an Obliviator." Adam nodded at this.

"You clean up messes caused by magic being used in front of us muggles don't you?" Tony nodded. "What's an Obliviator?"

"Someone who adjusts people's memories."

Adam stood and thought for a moment, mulling Tony's comment over in his mind. "You're not really magical policemen are you?"

It was Tony's turn to think for a moment. "When I left school, I wanted to be an Auror, I thought that's what Auror's did. I realise now, we clean up messes like you've just seen. What you and I are doing is what I want to do."

"You might have to find another job."

"I know. I looked into our training and history a few weeks ago. We used to have people called Hit Wizards, who were trained to take out dangerous Wizards. If a Wizard or Witch was considered to be too dangerous for normal capture, the Hit Wizards were sent after them."

"I assume the Term Hit Wizard means they were not bringing people back to justice?"

"Correct. Find them, terminate them, end of story. About ten years after the Bloodwars, they were disbanded."

"Why would they disband their top guy's?"

"The Ministry line is, they are longer required, as there are no longer any bad wizards at bay."

"Seems a mite short-sighted to me, considering what we know at the moment." Tony looked over and shrugged.

"I agree, but it's none of my business, or so I'm told."

"That's something I've heard many times during my career. However, in the meantime, you need to get yourself cleaned up; we have some interviews to conduct."

Tony stood up and pointed his wand at the top of his head. Adam watched his mouth agape as Tony's cut and grazes disappeared, his clothing shimmered and suddenly as if they had never been worn. There was a beep that came from the door, as it opened, allowing a small trolley to enter, on it was two hot drinks.

"Did you organise this?" Adam asked.

"Yes." He held up his tablet. "These are surprisingly easy to use."

"When can we interview Hulda?"

"No idea, we need to visit St Mungo's and see if she is ready."

"Let's go. I can't be bothered to sign in and out of the station anymore." Adam replied as he reached out towards Tony, he picked up the hot drinks, handing one to Adam before taking Adam's outstretched arm.

A moments disorientation and they were back in St Mungo's. A young nurse looked at them both a look of panic ran across her face.

"What now?" She asked.

"We need to see the Matron."

"She's upstairs on the first floor with your latest victim."

"That was not a victim; she is wanted by the Ministry," Tony replied angrily.

"You're not bringing them in here." She pointed at the two drinks and before they spoke, they both vanished. "This is a hospital, not a mess hall." She pointed at the stairs before walking away.

They tramped up the winding staircase to the first floor and through the only door, walking straight into two Aurors.

"Garrett." The first said upon seeing him. "I'd say it's good to see you, but you seem to be a one", he looked at Adam suspiciously, "or two men wrecking crew." He pointed towards the matron, whose back was towards them.

The matron heard the talking and turned around before walking towards them with purpose.

"Do you know how much paperwork I have to do every time someone is brought in here?"

"Surely you just use your wand to do all that?" Adam replied, Tony's head dropped, and he groaned.

"What." The matron yelled.

"How the hell would I know," yelled Adam. "I'm a bloody Muggle."

The two Auror's suddenly tensed, stepped away and turned towards Adam while their hands went to their coat pockets.

The matron turned on them. "Don't you two start." She shouted at them. They visibly flinched at the matron's loud comment and then relaxed, hands dropping away from their coats.

"Yes I know you're a muggle and that the only reason I haven't had you thrown out of my hospital." She turned away from Adam towards Tony, almost in dismissal, which suited Adam.

"As for you Mr Garrett, what the hell did you do to this girl?" She gestured behind her at the only bed where two nurses were working on her.

"I needed to stop her and I may have gone over the top slightly, in the heat of the moment." He said sheepishly.

"Over the top, so far I have pulled out over forty slivers of wood, some over six inches long, embedded in her body, the nurses and still finding more as we speak. Hells teeth, I do not know how she survived. She looks as if she has been in an explosion. How did you do that, some muggle bomb?" She gestured again, this time at Adam.

Tony took a deep breath. "No that was all me." He said quietly.

"You need to get yourself under control Mr Garrett."

"Difficult thing to do when people are trying to kill you." Tony snapped back.

"Well, she's in no state to talk yet, but the other girl you brought in is ready. Follow me."

Tony went to follow, then stopped and turned to the other Auror's.

"She is dangerous; don't turn your back on her for a moment, wands out all the time."

"Who the hell made you boss all of a sudden?" The first Auror asked as Tony walked away, following the Matron.

Adam pushed his face up close to the first Auror. "Just do as you're fucking told." He said angrily before following Tony.

As they left the room, both Auror's, looking slightly shocked, took their wands from their pockets and took up positions on either side of the room.

The matron led them up several floors, using a small narrow staircase they hadn't seen before.

"I spoke to Luthor and told him about the girl, he's quite impressed."

"I thought you were angry at us,?" Tony asked.

"Don't think for one moment I'm not angry at you, but I understand what you're doing. All that shouting was for show." A big grin appeared on Adams' face.

"You're a crafty old bugger," Adam said.

She stopped and looked back at them both. "Living with Luthor and doing this job and less of the old." She smiled and left the sentence hanging before opening a door, gestured for them to enter the doorway that had just appeared in front of her. As soon as they were inside, she pulled the door closed, leaving them on their own, the door merged into the wall and disappeared.

"Hi." Came a female voice from the corner of the room. Gabrielle was lying in bed her head almost buried in the huge downy pillow. "That noise in the hospital got anything to do with you two?"

"Tony brought Hulda in." Adam said. Gabrielle's eyes grew large.

"You bested Hulda. Wow, and you're still walking,?"

"I'm an Auror, of course I beat her." He said matter-of-factly, taking the nearest seat.

"He damn near killed her," Said Adam.

"Shame he didn't finish the job."

"Why would you say that?" Asked Adam sitting on the bed beside her.

"I've done things because of her."

"Hulda?"

"Yes. She was my friend, she fooled me into helping her train, and she used the Imperio curse on me." Tears were welling up; one slowly trickled down her cheek.

Adam reached over and took a tissue from a box beside the bed before handing it to her. He looked down at Tony.

"I thought you said you were impervious to this curse?"

"Generally, we are unless caught by surprise. It seems Hulda was practising on her. Somehow I expect she was in Hulda's control before she even realised it herself. We'll check the details with the matron before we leave to make sure."

Adam looked back at Gabrielle. "What can you tell us about Hulda's plans?"

"Nothing more than what I told you yesterday, except that she knows of a prophecy that mentions some huge event in sixty-two, that will change the face of the world." Adam looked at Tony, who was shaking his head. "Hulda belongs to a group that is trying to bring about this prophecy."

"Do you know the details of this prophecy?"

"Not exactly. We thought it could some sort of natural catastrophe. She thinks it was Sybil Trelawney's last prophecy."

"Sybil Trelawney's prophecy has never been found," Adam said.

She looked at him strangely. "How could you even have heard of Sybil Trelawney, let alone know about the prophecy?"

"It's my job to know these things." The look in her eye had changed as she realised the depth of his knowledge.

"She has details of over a dozen other prophecies that corroborate Trelawney's last prophecy. She didn't need the original."

"How many people are in this group?"

"Same as I told you yesterday, the smart guy, her two friends and the people who turned up from time to time."

"Do you know who they were, their names?"

"Eric, Dulcy, Urian and Hulda were the only ones I knew." Adam looked over at Tony.

"Can you take the pictures of them straight from her head, like you did with me the other day?"

"I can go one better." He said as he got up from his seat and went to the door and stuck his head outside. Adam could hear him having a conversation with someone outside. He came back in with a nurse, who hurried over to Gabrielle's bedside. She waved her wand over the girl, slowly travelling down her body from head to feet.

"No problem Mr Garrett, as long as you're using standard Auror techniques and not something you have cobbled together on your own." The nurse's voice had a touch of the matron about her, something that would obviously improve with time thought Adam.

"I've not been around long enough to develop anything other than standard spells." He said earnestly to the nurse.

"That's not what I've heard." She said heading for the door. Tony already had his wand out as he closed on Gabrielle. She seemed to sink even further back into the pillows.

"This doesn't hurt," Adam said trying to comfort the girl.

"I know what he's going to do." She replied tartly. Adam couldn't stop himself from smiling.

Tony's wand tip touched her temple and a silvery strand drew back from her head to the tip of the wand. He slipped a small phial from his pocket and thumbed the lid off. The strand of silver broke away from the girls head. Tony lifted the tip of the wand to the glass phial. The silver acted like a liquid and seemed to pour into the glass. He stoppered it and put it back in his pocket.

"I didn't take a picture that time; I took a memory, which I can look at later."

Adam stared at Tony, not understanding what had just happened.

"That's all for now Gabrielle," Tony said. "We'll continue a little later." She did not reply as they turned and left.

"They wound down the stairs to the main foyer and to the office door. Tony knocked gently, and the door swung gently open. The matron was sitting at a desk a small quill was quickly writing on its own.

"Matron, do you have a Pensieve on the premises?"

Adam was silent, watching the quill scribble furiously on the parchment all on its own.

"No. I think there is one in the Ministry of Magic and another at Hogwarts School, in the headmaster's office." She replied.

"Any others?"

"If there is, I have no idea, although you might try the Hall of Memories, it's on level nine of the Ministry." She replied.

"Thanks for your help. Any idea when we can interview our other young friend upstairs?"

"Someone from the Ministry is having her moved to the ministry as soon as she is well enough. When I let her go, I'll make sure you are informed."

"Many thanks, Matron." He turned to look at Adam, who was pointing at the quill and grinning at the Matron.

"Get out Mr Croft, while you still have two legs." She was trying to not to smile as she spoke. The door closed forcefully on its own, pushing the two of them out as it did.

Tony stood facing the closed door. He looked around at Adam, smiled and knocked on the door again.

After a moment the door opened, and the matron stood looking at them both.

"I still have a couple of questions." He smiled and hoped that it was a good as Adams always was.

"Go on."

"Was Gabrielle under the Imperious curse?"

"She was under a pretty deep curse; whether it was the Imperious or not, I'm not sure."

"So she had no choice in doing the things she did?"

"Probably. What did she actually do?"

"Don't know that's why we need the Pensieve."

The matron stepped back into her office and gestured for them to come back in.

"Luthor has a Pensieve." She said quietly. "I'll ask him if you can use it."

"No, that won't be necessary," Tony replied quickly. "We'll have to go to the ministry."

"If you're sure, but if you can't get to it, I'm sure he'll let you use it."

They left a moment later the door closed itself again.

"Do I assume we have to go to the Ministry again?"

"Yes. There's no way I'm going to Hogwarts." He said walking towards the entrance.

Adam followed. "Why not Hogwarts?"

"Time. If we go there, I will have to meet many people, who I haven't seen for some time, who will completely ignore the fact I am on a case."

"School hasn't started yet, has it?"

"No, but all the staff will be preparing for the year ahead and will be bored, looking for anything to distract them."

"I assume that you don't want to use Luthor's thing because you don't know how involved he is?"

"Do you think we should trust Luthor?" He asked.

"Not sure, but going to see him might be the lesser of two evils, considering we chased out of the Ministry last time?"

"Yes, but whoever that woman was, I don't think she was Ministry."

"How did she get in then?"

"Another question we need an answer to."

"That's the fun of detective work, you start out with more questions than answers and you end up with even more questions than answers. Anyway, how are we getting into the Ministry this time?" He asked as they walked through the foyer of St Mungo's. A moment later they were walking along Diagon Alley and Adam didn't feel a thing this time.

"I'll get us a couple of tickets for the tube." He said as he stopped next to a bench. "Wait here for a moment." He said and disappeared.


	6. Chapter 6 The Ministry for Magic TAL

The Ministry for Magic

Adam sat down on the bench and made himself comfortable. He did not have to wait long before Tony reappeared and handed him a piece of paper, which turned out to be a gold metallic ticket, for travel on the visitor's tube.

Tony guided him back into St Mungo's, down a staircase, he assumed was new as it was not there the last time he looked. Several flights later, they emerged onto the empty platform of the tube, the strange train already pulling in.

The tube trip was as uneventful as before, with even fewer people using it. They walked from the platform along the access tunnel, which deposited them in the foyer of the Ministry for magic. No great mass of people greeted them this time. The small desks and chairs were empty save for one, the same man who they met the first time they entered, sat on his own, looking bored with his lot. He sat up as he saw the two of them approach. He held out his hand to Tony as he stared at Adam.

"I'm still a muggle and I still have no wand," Adam said as Tony dropped his wand into the man's hand. The man held the wand and then looked up at Tony, frowning.

"Why are you here?" He asked, doubt in his voice.

"We need to use a Pensieve." Tony replied.

The man thought for a moment.

"I'll need to get authority." He said. A small piece of parchment on his desk folded itself up into a paper aeroplane and launched itself off into the great hall. They all watched it fly off into the distance before darting down one of the many corridors.

"Will this take long?" Adam asked. The man looked up at him, then at Tony and saw the same look.

"Depends on whether the person I'm asking of is still here or has gone home." He said as he handed Tony his wand back.

As they waited, Adam spent the time looking around the huge area, upwards he recognised the windows overlooking the hall where he stood the other day waiting for Tony. He spied a figure looking down on them, too far away to tell whom it was. The figure waved at him, which Adam returned, having no idea who it was.

The wait continued until a lone flying paper aeroplane flew slowly over their heads. The man in the chair pointed at it.

"Follow the memo to level Two." He smiled, happy that they were going and he no longer had to deal with them.

The journey through the Ministry was much longer this time and seemed to take them down or up into the bowels of the underground building.

"Do you know where we're going?" Adam asked as they exited the third lift.

"Department of Magical Law Enforcement. My department, my bosses department. Hopefully, everyone of importance has gone home."

"Surely it's good that there is someone there to help?" Adam inquired.

"If my boss is in, he will ask questions." He looked at Adam knowingly.

"I know that one." Adam said in return.

He pushed open an ornate door revealing yet another door-lined corridor. The memo stopped at the farthest door along the corridor. Tony marched along and pushed the door open revealing a plain small room. No decoration adorned the plain plastered walls. The only item of furniture was a large ornate cupboard; on top was a wide glass bowl, filled with a shimmering pearlescent liquid, which rippled as they walked across the room. Tony removed the little phials from his pocket and thumbed the lid off.

"Not been in here before." He said.

Adam pointed at the large bowl that continued to ripple strangely.

"This is a Pensieve, it will allow us to investigate the very memories of the person they have been taken from."

"How can you investigate memories?" Adam asked as the now familiar feeling of unease making itself known again.

Tony poured the contents of the small phial into the bowl and watched it swirl around for a moment, almost as if it was agitated, then he put his hand on Adam's shoulder.

"Consider this to be our version of your Evob room, we actually enter the memories. This first memory is Ramsey Arn's. Hopefully, we might find out how he ended up in the Charing Cross Road with a lump on his head."

Tony leant forward his face towards the bowls, pulling Adam with him.

Adam cried out as he fell hundreds of feet through a milky cloud, suddenly he dropped through a roof and landed feet first on the Charing Cross Road, people strolling along, electric cars and vans whining past and many sized drones filling the air. They could see Arn wondering along, seemingly happy and enjoying himself looking at all the surrounding people. Suddenly the scene shimmered, and they were standing in an old dirty warehouse, light coming from small hovering balls set randomly around the area. He was about to run and hide when he realised he was stood in a small group of people, with Tony calmly standing beside him. Most of their faces looked as if someone had put an opaque mask on them

In front of the group was Ramsey Arn, his face clear and animated as he spoke, even though he could hear nothing. He looked the same as he did in the street, his clothes neat and clean.

"Can they hear us?" Adam whispered.

"No, this is a memory we can look at, but not interact with."

"That's the girl in the hospital, Hulder." He pointed at the young girl, short blond hair, slim, dressed in muggle jeans and a T-shirt, her face also masked, but her clothes giving her away.

"Yes, that's her, or at least I assume so. She changed her appearance so many times, it might not be."

Adam moved to one side and walked around the room, looking at each blank face. Tony went the other way observing the scene. So far, no one seemed to have spoken, although Adam could see that their faces, although blurred, were moving as if they could be talking. It was like looking at a silent movie.

"Tony," Adam said, his voice sounding loud to himself as Tony looked over. "Why can't we hear anything?"

"Same reason we can't see faces. This is Arn's memory and I suspect the reason we can't hear anything is that his memories have been tampered with. The faces being blurred could be a spell, or they were using magic to disguise themselves."

Adam stood in front of two young girls both looked familiar. The one on the right was actually a man.

"I recognise these two."

"Woodrow and Adair." He replied. "And this is Lynwood and Clerkin." He pointed at the two people standing in front of him.

Suddenly the manner of the people changed, even though their faces were hidden, it was clear that an argument was taking place. They watched Arn repeatedly point his finger at Hulda, anger in his face and stance.

The scene around them shimmered, and they were standing on the Charing Cross Road, it was dark, little traffic and no drones flying above the street and no people. The street lights, bright after the dingy warehouse. Ramsey was ambling down the street, although staggering was nearer the mark, as he tried to walk into the wall between two shops. He grabbed the wall and held on; they watched him drop his wand before staggering on for a while before finally succumbing to whatever had happened to him, sliding down the glass window of a shop, where he stayed. Suddenly he found himself rushing upwards at great speed. He was back in the little ornate office looking down at the large bowl.

"Wow," Adam exclaimed. "That's one hell of a rush." He said steadying himself against the sideboard.

Tony used his wand and pulled it through the milky water, a drop of liquid clung to the end, which he deposited back into the bottle.

"Well, that didn't help. We still have no idea how he got hurt."

"At least he dropped his own wand, rather than it being placed."

"We know the police found him in the morning, but who found the wand?"

"No idea. I'll check and see if they know." Tony slipped the little bottle back into his pocket. He then picked up the second bottle.

"Right, number two, this is Gabrielle's memories. Ready?" Adam nodded as he dropped the second phials contents into the bowl. Their heads dropped and the same feeling of vertigo engulfed him. He managed not to cry out as they fell.

Suddenly they were standing in the same warehouse though now sunlight streamed through the broken roof lights. The group were standing in different locations, and they could see Gabrielle standing at the front. They both stopped and stared at a new character standing at the back. Adam walked around the room until he came to the large portly man, slightly shorter than himself, his face indistinct like the others. Something about the man he was looking at, reminded him of someone he had met before, the way he was dressed, in a gown, with an embroidered waistcoat that matched the gown. Barefooted his stance just as familiar.

Tony spoke. "I see Woodrow, Adair, Lynwood, and Scrivens.

"Where's Clerkin?" He asked receiving a shake of the head from Tony. "Any idea who this is?" He asked pointing at the portly older man.

The scene shimmered, now it was night, small hanging globes providing light. Hulda was on the floor with Gabrielle. In front of them was a small mortar and pestle, a set of scales and a small burner. Scattered around was several small paper envelopes and bags, all open, the contents on show.

"Are they making themselves something to eat?" Adam asked.

"No, they're making a potion of some sort."

"Can you tell which one?" Tony leant forward, muttering under his breath. "Are you making a spell of some sort?"

"No. I working out the list of ingredients I can see. I going to make a guess and say they are making polyjuice potion. Notice they have a dozen small bottles lined up, so they are making a batch."

"You said it was difficult to make."

"It is, there is a huge list of ingredients and it can take up to a month to brew properly."

"A month." He said in surprise.

The scene before then swirled for a moment and they standing in the little room again.

"I said it was a difficult potion."

"Where the separate scenes we saw, in the correct order?"

"I assume so, what have you seen?"

"If they were the other way around, I would assume that perhaps Clerkin was trying to look like the gowned guy."

"Would it make any difference?"

"In the first scene of Lynwood's memory was that man I was standing in front. He reminded me greatly of someone I have met before."

"Someone from your world?"

"No, someone we have been trusting."

"Who?"

"Luthor Crabbe."

"Did you see his face?"

"No, it was blurred out, but the clothes he wore and the way he stood, one hand on his hip the other rubbing his trouser leg. That exactly how Luthor stood while he was ordering people around the other day."

"Bollocks," Tony exclaimed. "I hope you're wrong."

"If the scenes were the other way around, we could assume that it Clerkin was trying to be Luthor, using that potion."

"Good point."

"However, we can also be pretty sure Luthor knows about the prophecy, and it was probably him who put us together or at least arranged it."

"But why?"

"He and you have mentioned Wizarding wars, could it be anything to do with that?"

"No."

"Why are you so sure? What did he call that guy?"

"His name was Lord Voldemort, real name Tom Riddell."

"Nice name, I assume he's been locked up?"

"He's dead, has been for a long time. He caused the blood wars. Long story short, he believed only purebred magical folk were worthy, muggle-borns like me, were called Mudbloods and considered worthless. You don't want to know what he thought of Muggles."

"What about followers? Someone like that usually has a following of some sort, could they be involved in some way?"

"Yes, they were called Death Eaters."

"Death Eaters, that's a hell of a name." He exclaimed.

"This was over forty years ago, the Death Eaters that were caught were put in Azkaban. I think they are all dead now or at least very old."

"In our terms, forty years ago was a long time, in your terms, forty years isn't quite such a long ago."

Tony looked down at the ground, thinking. "No. The objection is towards muggles and the way they are multiplying and spreading into areas that have always been reserved for the Wizarding community, the Wizarding war was between wizards being pureblood or not."

Silence descended again.

"Your idea of recognising people by their style of clothing and physical stance had just made me think of something," Tony said after a moment's thought.

"What's that?"

"I need to open my eyes a little more. I am missing things." Adam smiled at him, realising he was learning.

"We need to talk to our cross-dresser and his friend again."

A quiet cough came from behind them, both men jumped at the sound and spun around.

"Enjoying yourselves?" In the open doorway stood Maldue Ledford, dressed in his usual gown, smiling benignly at them.

"I received a message saying you needed a Pensieve. My interest was piqued, even more so since listening to your conversation."

"How much did you hear?" Tony asked.

"Not enough to be of use, but enough to be of interest."

Both of the men looked at him, not knowing what to say next.

"I heard your comments on Voldemort Tony. For you Adam, he is dead, well and truly, no coming back from the dead a second time."

"A second time?" Adam asked amazement in his voice.

"Voldemort was probably one of the greatest wizards of his time. He cheated death by the slimmest of margins and because of a band of followers and his immense magical skill, was able to bring himself back from the very brink of death. However he was not like us and due to a poor childhood perhaps, used his magical ability for bad, so very bad, that even to this day, people will not use his name, or at least will only whisper it."

Adam noticed that Tony what nodding as the old man spoke.

"Your other comment about his followers is quite true Tony; however Adam is right in this instance that his followers are in some cases very much alive and no longer in Azkaban." A look of shock crossed Tony's face. "I can assure you with a great deal of confidence that you are not dealing with Death Eaters, young or old."

"How can you be sure?" Adam asked before Tony had a chance to speak.

"A muggle term you might recognise. Once bitten twice shy, or in our case, three times shy."

"You mean you were caught out twice?"

"Very much so, we failed to make preparations. I was involved in the preparations we made after Voldemort's second passing. These preparations still include the whereabouts and dealings of all Death Eaters still alive and their families. The people in question agreed as part of their release from Azkaban."

"I thought they'd all be dead by now," Tony said shaking his head.

"My dear Tony, Tom Riddell and I went to school together, although I was no Slytherin. We spent time together in our early years at Hogwarts and I found him to be quite engaging and good company." He paused for a moment his eyes unfocused as he went through his memories. "His attitude and comments in the later years at Hogwarts meant that we didn't speak much."

"How old does that make you, or is that a rude thing to ask?" Adam asked hoping that he was not offending the old wizard.

"Myself and Tom were both born in 1926. I was older by a month."

Adams' mouth dropped open as he calculated his age. "You look in incredibly good health for 114 years old."

"I have help." He winked at Adam. "So, what did the Pensieve tell you?"

"That we need to have a chat with a few people," Tony replied.

"Can I help in any way?" Asked Maldue.

"We need to talk to a couple of people we brought in, they are in Azkaban at the moment."

"Do you mean Dulcia Woodrow and Urian Adair?"

"Yes."

"Consider it done. I'll arrange for them to be brought to this room at 8:30 tomorrow morning. One word of warning though, Dulcia's father is a minister of some importance, he will be here."

"No issues with that," Adam replied. "As long as he realises that it is a police interview, and he may not interfere in any way."

"You do like to make things difficult, but I'll make sure he understands." He said the word sure slowly. "Anything else?" His smiled beamed wider, if possible.

Adam looked at Tony for a moment. "Hulda Scrivens."

"That's a given, just as long as she has been released by St. Mungo's."

"We have one other person we'd like to talk too, but this might be problematical at best," Adam spoke for both of them.

"Who?" Was all Maldue said.

"Luthor Crabbe."

Maldue's smile faltered, a frown formed on his face. "He's not in the country."

"He's in South Africa," Adam replied. "Along with my wife who is his guest."

Maldue nodded at this, as if it was not a surprise to him, which meant it probably wasn't. "Of course he is in South Africa, he is a Minister in the African Magical Congress. Why would you want to talk to him, you must have a very good reason?"

Tony turned and pointed at the Pensieve. Maldue walked over and looked at the bowl for a moment before lowering his head down. Nothing happened, Maldue stayed where he was. Tony held his finger to his lips just before Adam spoke.

The two of them stood silently until Maldue's head came back up. He looked around at them both quizzically.

"Whose memory is this?"

"Gabrielle Lynwood."

"You do realise this she was under the Imperio curse during this memory," Maldue spoke, the humour in his eyes and voice now gone.

"We assumed that, but uncertain until now."

"Why does this make you want to see Luthor and the other two?"

"In the memory, you can see people."

"But not their faces."

"You don't always need a face to identify someone," Adam replied. "The man at the back, I am fairly certain is Luthor, the other two girls, near to him are the other two your bringing tomorrow."

"Is this sort of thing common in the muggle world?"

"It's what we use to build a body of evidence."

Maldue nodded and turned around and bent over the Pensieve a second time.

Again, they waited for his head to lift back up.

"Could be Luthor, however, you said two girls, we have a boy and girl at Azkaban."

"Polyjuice," Adam and Tony said together.

He nodded at them, the frown still on his face. "I'll talk to Luthor, he can be a bit of a wild one when he's not happy. He's unlikely to get all shouty with me."

He turned back yet again to the pensive, a wand had appeared his hand. They watched him pull the wand through the liquid and pull a pearl oily strand from the water. Neither had seen Maldue pull a phial from his pocket when he lifted the wand and the liquid hanging for it to the phial.

"That's our evidence." Exclaimed Adam as Maldue put the little bottle in his pocket. Tony reached past the old wizard and did the same thing with his own wand.

"He's just made a copy," Tony said holding up his own bottle.

Maldue pocketed the bottle and smiled at them both. "I have two more things. First, I will have Botilda chasing me tomorrow for these memories, do you have any more?" Tony slipped the original from his pocket, which Maldue touched with his wand, making another copy. "Second, Luthor Crabbe has extended his pleasure at having you both for dinner tonight. I take it you have not seen your wife for a while?"

"That would be correct," Adam replied.

"Good, you can ask him why he was in this memory then." He reached forward, touch them both on the shoulders and the room and the Pensieve disappeared.

A brick and stone terrace appeared around them. The early evening sun beat down, reflecting off the floor, making them both blink. Just over the wall of a terrace was a large imposing swimming pool with palm trees providing shade, the water flat like a mill pool. On the far side, dressed in a very skimpy white bikini, laying back on a sun lounger was Gwen, oblivious to their arrival. Adam turned to Maldue and found Luthor looking at him. "Dinner will be ready soon." He gestured at Tony before he turned and walked away leaving him feeling quite confused as he watched both of their backs head towards a very English white colonial type building. Adam shrugged his shoulders and walked over to Gwen, slipping into the chair without disturbing her. He reached over and gently picked up her blue coloured drink, about to put it to his lips.

"Drink that and I'll rip your bloody arms off." Gwen said with her strong Welsh accent without opening her eyes.

Adam laughed. "You can take the girl out of Wales, but you can't take the Welsh out of the girl." He said as she stood. She joined him and they hugged for a while.

"I have missed you somewhat." She said when they broke their embrace.

"Somewhat?" He exclaimed.

"It's difficult when you have all this." She gestured around them to the green lush fields stretching away to the mountains in the distance.

They hugged again.

"Are you a muggle Adam?" The look she gave him showed how serious she was.

"Yes, just as you are."

She looked at him, her deep green eyes boring into him.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me, you're a bloody witch." He exhaled loudly, stepping back.

Gwen laughed, a deep loud throaty laugh that seemed to use her whole body, most of which was on display.

"I'm no witch. I wanted to see the look on your face."

He took a deep breath. Luthor appeared beside them, making them jump.

Adam turned towards him. "You knew about the prophecy and put the two of us together, why?"

"Prophecy?" Chimed in Gwen.

"I knew of the prophecy, or at least the general gist. I never for one moment expected you to find the bloody thing and bring it to the Ministry."

"What Prophecy?" Gwen Asked again.

"You knew our names were mentioned?"

"Yes. A Peruvian and a German seer both made a prophecy over seventy years ago, you two were named in both of them, also the Ministry in London have another that mentions you both."

"That's the reason you made the ministry put us together? What makes you think it is us, there must be dozens of Garrett's and Croft's you could have chosen."

"What fucking prophecy?" Gwen yelled making both men stepped back at the venom in her voice.

Adam brought her up to date, with help from Luthor.

"By bringing you two together, we make the prophecy work." Luthor continued.

"Surely it has to be the right people, or the prophecy won't work, or its total rubbish." Adam argued.

"You have only seen Trelawney's prophecy. The way to confirm a prophecy is to correlate them with other prophecies. Believe me when I tell you that 'you' and 'Tony' are the only people it could be."

"I still don't buy it, far too circumspect."

"The German prophecy translates to one will be a Muggle-born wizard and his partner will be a muggle investigator. The Peruvian one states something very similar after translation."

"After translation."

"What did the prophecies say?" Asked Gwen.

"They state in one form or another that these two are some sort of catalyst just before some catastrophe affects the Muggle world," Luthor explained. "Most seem to think it is some sort of natural catastrophe."

"That's ridicules. Adam's a muggle and knew nothing about your world before last week, like me. How can he possibly have an impact on your world?"

Luthor looked at them both for a moment. He reached up a patted Adam on the arm. "I do not know, but the prophecies are never wrong."

"Hold on," Adam said loudly, stopping the heated conversation dead. "Maldue and others have said that prophecies are muddled and far from accurate."

"Maldue's and especially Percy Weasley's reasons are different to mine and others in different ministries around the world. The Wizarding world has kept the status quo with regard to muggles for hundreds of years. The world is changing faster than ever before. Muggle technology is advancing at an alarming rate. We cannot carry on the way we are. That's the reason it is imperative we allow this prophecy to continue to its conclusion."

"Us muggles, technologies or not, would not stand a chance against you wizards if it came to a war."

"Who said anything about war?"

"You want the muggles, us, to have a huge bloody war?" Adam spat angrily

"No," Luthor yelled flinging his hands into the air. "The wizarding community has to come out of hiding and take its place beside the muggles and work together before all is lost."

"And if the human race, muggles, doesn't agree what then?"

"We cannot carry on as we are. Something has to give before it's too late." His voice had dropped to a more conciliatory tone.

"Muggles wouldn't stand a chance again a couple of wizards, let alone hundreds or even thousands."

"That's the reason we need to do something now before it gets out of hand."

Adam looked at Luthor, trying to see if he was missing something.

"There's more to the prophecies that you're letting on?"

"There's always more to prophecies that seems at first. As time goes by, the meanings can be interpreted differently."

"But the prophecy tells of a muggle wizard war."

"None of them do that."

"Trelawney's prophecy does, and the Ministry seems to take her prophecies seriously." He said angrily, Luthor frowned. "You haven't seen Trelawney's prophecy have you?" Luthor apparated without speaking.

"I think your last comment scored a direct hit," Gwen said slipping her arm around his waist. "Did this prophecy really mention a war?" Uncertainty tinged her voice.

"Yes, and if Luthor and or the prophecy is right, then me and Tony would seem to be a sort for of catalyst."

"Nice to meet you, Gwen." Said Tony from behind them, making them both jump. "Nice outfit." He smiled while he looked at Gwen.

"Watch yourself magic boy," Adam said turning towards him. Gwen giggled at the comment.

"Thank you, Tony, and yes it is nice to finally meet you." Replied Gwen, she gave him a hug which surprised him making him step back.

"Hell's teeth, you're not part Veela are you?" He asked looking worried.

"What the hell is a Veela?" She snapped back.

"Nothing for you to worry about," Adam said. "Find anything new?" He asked of Tony. He shook his head.

"What about you?"

"Luthor has not seen Trelawney's prophecy. I was about to ask him a couple of questions but he disappeared. Talking of disappearing where did you go to?"

"Research."

"Find anything out?"

"I'll let you know later."

"Luthor seems to have a lot of clout with the Ministry doesn't he?" Adam asked.

"Way too much. I thought the Crabbe's were all gone, wiped out in the purge. Something about him being involved with the Ministry is quite disturbing."

"Not really," Gwen said calmly as she sat back down on the lounger.

Adam looked down at her as she made herself comfortable while Tony looked the other way.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked when he thought it was safe to look down again.

"He is a Minister."

"We know," Adam said. "How many Ministries are there?" He looked at Tony for an answer.

"Every country or area has one. I think the oldest is ours, but some have also been around for centuries."

"How many witches and wizards are there in the world?" Adam asked as took a seat beside Gwen.

Tony closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "I have no idea, but there must be millions of us around the world."

"Millions?" Exclaimed Adam reaching again for Gwen's drink and having his hand slapped.

"A drop in the ocean compared to over nine billion Adam."

Adam looked at him and thought. "What is the expected muggle population in 2060?"

Tony took a deep breath. "Conservatives would say in excess of ten billion."

"You didn't have to think about that too much did you?"

Luthor chose that moment to reappear beside them ending the conversation, next to him was the Matron, Amanda, dressed very differently in a long evening gown. Gwen stood up and went over, they all watched while they hugged like old friends, chatting away together, heading back into the house.

"Dinner is served." He said turning towards his home. It was obvious by his stance and tone of voice that he had heard something, not to his liking.

"We'll be down shortly when Gwen's had the chance to change." Called Amanda as they headed indoors.

"Have you seen the prophecy?" Adam asked following.

Luthor's shoulders tensed for a moment, he stopped and turned back to Adam. "The problem with prophecies is that they are a problem." He shook his head looking at the floor. "I have now seen the great Trelawney prophecy."

"Still happy you brought us together?"

Luthor's looked Adam in the eye. "Too late now." He smiled and headed off towards the house.

Adam went to follow, when Tony grabbed his arm, pointing at the house.

"What am I looking at?" He asked.

"Look at your wife and the Matron."

"My wife is half naked, nothing new in that. What are you trying to tell me?"

"I'm doing your thing, looking at people, the way they stand, walk, look." Adam nodded. "They could be sisters."

Adam stared, watching them stop and stand face to face, still chatting away. He had to admit, they did have many similarities, and even their hair was similar in style and colour. He shrugged, put it out of his head and followed them indoors.


	7. Chapter 7 More Interviews TAL

Chapter 7

Interviews

They spent the night in Luthor's home, after a meal and way too many drinks. During the meal, Luthor resolutely refused to discuss the case and any involvement he had in it.

They arrived back at the Ministry of Magic early in the morning via the tube, packed with the usual variously garbed individuals. The great atrium was already buzzing with activity from one end to the other. The desk and chairs were all occupied taking wands and sending memos out. The fireplaces ranged along the walls, constantly burst into green flames as all manner of magical folk, wearing an assortment of clothing, from standard witches garb to modern Muggle styling, came strolling into the atrium, mingling with those that had just alighted from the tube.

They joined the nearest queue. Adam stared at the huge numbers of paper aircraft that lifted from the tables, setting off in a multitude of directions.

Then they were at the front.

"Good morning Auror Garret, Mr Croft. The minister is expecting you, please follow the memo." The man smiled at them.

"You don't want our wands then?" Adam asked.

"I think you're both past the wand stage, move along, please." A man in a neat business suit pushed past them both, he dropped his wand in the box and walked off with purpose into the melee.

They followed their seemingly impatient memo along the great hall.

"Why did he say we were past wands?" Adam asked of Tony.

"I have no idea. Perhaps someone has told them we will need our wands." Tony replied.

"Except I don't have a wand."

"Except for the four you have in your pocket."

"But I can't use them."

Tony stopped walking in mid-stride and thought for a moment.

"Remember when we spoke to Hulda on Aunt Matilda and you tapped her on the head with a wand."

"Vaguely, and I'm still not sure that was Hulda," Adam replied.

"Whoever she was, to use your words, nearly shit herself. You're an unknown entity Adam, which gives you an edge."

"When the hell did you go mystic and all knowing?" Tony smiled as he shook his head. "I expect that sort of thing from the older wizards we meet, but you're far too young for all that zen crap."

He marched off leaving a confused Tony in his wake, only to come to a halt at the next intersection, the memo staying just in front of Tony.

They arrived at the room they had visited the day before, only now the room was a great deal bigger. Maldue was patiently waiting with Urian Adair, this time looking and dressed like a man, although he cut a very slight figure. Next to him was Dulcia Woodrow, dressed in a dark grey business suit, which would not look out of place in any Muggle office.

"Why are they together?" Adam said loudly and angrily the moment he walked into the room. He stopped and looked around the room. Apart from Maldue and the two suspects, there was another man sitting to one side, neatly dressed and obviously angry. Standing around the room were another ten people, all dressed how Tony used to dress, black jackets, trousers, shirt and tie, all of them were standing almost to attention with their wands on display but aimed at the floor.

"What difference does it make?" Maldue asked his voice shaking Adam out of his surprise.

"Suspects should always be kept apart, it stops them agreeing on a story." Adams' voice had changed from its usual friendliness to all business and not to be reckoned with. "We'll start with the girl; put the other somewhere until we're ready for him."

"I object." A well-dressed man burst out. Adam gave him an unfriendly look; it was obvious that it was Dulcia's father, same face shape, hair colour and eyes, slim build. He turned towards the man, stopping just in front of him his face inches away. "I assume the Minister here has informed you of the proceedings. You are here in this interview under sufferance. You will keep quiet during the interview process. Do you understand?" As Adam spoke, overriding the man attempt to speak. He could see the man was getting ready to explode with indignation.

"How dare you speak to me like this? I am a Minister." He had stepped back as if Adam had hit him.

Maldue held up his hand in front of Woodrow.

"You know what we agreed; you must allow the detective to do his job."

"Thank you," Adam said turning to Maldue. "I assume the guys in black are guards." He whispered.

"Yes, protection for all of us." Maldue waved his wand that had seemed to appear in his hand. Adam felt a closeness almost like a soft blanket wrap itself around him. "I've produced a zone of silence around us, so no one can hear us."

"Are things getting serious?" Tony asked as he joined them.

"Things have been serious since you two came together. Since your discovery of that bloody prophecy, the level of seriousness has increased more, and I am not taking chances." Adam noticed that one of the other Auror's was pulling Urian Adair thought a door at the far end, of the room that was not there yesterday.

"Our young lady, Hulda will be joining us later; Luthor may be here, depending on his work commitments." Adam nodded and moved to one side, feeling the strange blanket feeling lift off him.

"Excuse me?" Adam called across the room to the Auror with Adair. He stopped and looked back, a frown on his face. "Do not talk to him while you're next door on any subject; do not enter into a conversation. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mr Croft." He turned away and pushed Adair thought the door and closed it behind him.

Adam stepped back into the blanket area. "I tried to talk to Luthor last night?" Maldue frowned. "He refused to talk of any involvement or anything to do with the case."

"He turned up here demanding to see a certain prophecy. He was quite flustered."

"That would be my fault."

"I assumed that. We had a chat and I'm happy with his answers."

"I think he is playing devil's advocate to a degree."

"I would agree, he does like to do that sort of thing. He has split loyalties to a degree and some answers he gave were in the strictest confidence, politics' and all that. I can make a request for his presence. He might even agree to be questioned by you."

Adam took a deep breath.

"You people scare me sometimes." He said turning away.

"Only sometimes Mr Croft?" Was Maldue's only reply as he turned away, the muffled silence went with him.

Without replying, Adam walked away to the centre of the room. Oblivious to everyone watching as he pulled the large desk from the side of the room to the middle. The desk was much heavier than he expected and he needed all of his strength to move it. The desk legs scraped noisily as it moved, no one offered to help. He then placed three chairs around the desk, two on one and one on the other. He gestured at Dulcia to sit in the single chair; she looked at her father. Adam clicked his fingers and then pointed at the chair, she moved from the bench to the chair. As he had clicked his fingers, he had heard Duclia's father take a sharp intake of breath. Adam waiting with his back to the man, sensibly, he thought, the man had stayed quiet.

Adam turned to Tony and gestured to one of the other chairs, which he took. He had positioned the desk, forcing everybody in the room to stand or sit in front of him, more importantly, the girl or anyone else they would be interviewing would have no one to look at except Adam and Tony.

"Tony, do we have a way to record the conversation we are about to have?" There was no reply but to one side of Adam, a roll of parchment appeared, hanging in mid-air, with a many-coloured ornate quill, poised above the paper. Adam stared at it, transfixed for a moment.

"Before we begin this interview, I have something to say." Nobody said a word. "As this is an interview within the Ministry of Magic, it is not a police matter as such, so I am unable to put anyone under caution, so anything said cannot be used as evidence in any Muggle court." He was looking directly at Maldue while he spoke.

"Mr Croft, for the record, everything that happens in this room, will be recorded, not only by the quill but by each person's memories. Each and every person within this interview room will have their memories taken and sealed within phials, so that if a court case is required, those memories can be revisited and will be used, as you say, in evidence." Maldue had emphasised the word will.

Adam smiled at Maldue, realising how seriously they taking these events unless of course, He wondered, this was how they always did it.

Adam sat back in the chair and took a deep breath, giving himself a moment to gather his thoughts before pulling his notebook out. He had spent some time before going to sleep in one of Luthors' palatial bedrooms after he and Gwen made up for the time had been apart, listing the questions he would need to ask this morning. He placed the tablet on the table in front of him, taking his time, knowing this would make the girl in front of him more nervous.

"For the record, can you recite your full name?" Adam said loudly, making the girl jump. He stared straight into the girl's eyes, in the way he knew would intimidate her.

She started to turn her head around to look at her father. Adam's loud rap with his knuckles on the table stopped her, making her jump. Behind her, he saw her father and several of the Aurors jump. Dulica's father was using all of his restraint to keep quiet, he also knew this would not last.

"Dulcia Alianna Woodrow." The quill burst into life, furiously scribbling.

"Age?" He asked, keeping any emotion from his voice.

"I'll be eighteen in November." Adam looked towards the rear of the room.

"Gentlemen, in my world, this young lady would be classed as a child until she is eighteen, is that not the case here?"

"Mr Croft," Maldue called out. "She has left school and knows the laws of our world; she is an adult and will be treated as such."

"I object." Yelled Dulcia's father standing and turning angrily towards Maldue. "She is a child."

"She is of age, the trace is of her, she is an adult," Maldue shouted back angrily. "Sit down Mr Woodrow, or else." The two men stared at each other for a moment, Maldue's glare unwavering. Finally, Woodrow sat down.

"Please continue with the interview, Mr Croft."

"Interview with Dulcia Alianna Woodrow, Location, Ministry of Magic. Interviewers are me, Detective Chief Inspector Adam Croft, Muggle," he emphasised the last word, "and Auror Tony Garrett. Also present are Ministers Ledford and Woodrow, ten Aurors, names not known and several others, also unknown."

Everyone in the room had moved a little closer to the desk, interested in what was going on. Adam knew this whole interview process was incorrect, but could not think of another way to keep control of the preceding's.

"What do you do for a living Miss Woodrow?" Adam dropped his voice down to a more conversational level.

"I'm a trainee Drake Hanterare." She replied hesitantly.

"Dragon handler, dangerous job isn't it?"

"Yes, it is." She replied the change of voice and subject had confused her.

"Tell me," he continued in the same quiet voice, "what sort of spells you would use around a creature such as a dragon because for the life of me I cannot begin to understand?"

"Mainly shields like a Patronus, sometimes we use invisibility spells when they are flying."

"Shields I can understand, is there such a thing as a running away spell?" He leant forwards smiling; she smiled back, relaxing her guard. "Any others?"

"Mainly healing spells, usually for burns, cuts, and falls."

"Dragons do seem to be nasty big buggers don't they?" He said laughing.

"Some are some aren't." She replied.

"Really, they all look pretty nasty to me."

"No, some smaller ones are quite sweet and behave like large dogs, if they know you, they come running to greet you. They're very intelligent."

"And that doesn't scare you?"

"No, you get used to it."

"When might you use the Avada Kedava curse while handing dragons?"

"You wouldn't." The reply came immediately, her smile slipped from her face.

It amazed him at how easy it was to manipulate the witches and wizards with words although they all well-educated and seemed to relish wordiness.

"Really, can you tell when you personally have used the Avada Kedava curse?"

Adam could see her father lifting out of his chair; Maldue placed his hand on the man's shoulder, guiding him back down.

Adam now knew he had complete control of this situation.

"You know we have your wand, Miss Woodrow?" Adam pulled the collection of wands from his pocket and placed them on the table, in a line, all pointing towards her.

"Yes." She replied.

"Can you point to your wand please?" Her hand shook as she pointed to the end wand, which Adam already knew was hers. He picked it up. "Is this your wand?"

"Yes."

"Again, Miss Woodrow, have you ever used the Avada Kedava curse?"

"No." She replied her head facing downwards, her shoulder slumped.

"For the sake of evidence, can one of you Auror's please take this wand, confirm its owner and show us the last two or three spells that were cast with it." He hoped they could all do the trick with the wands the way Tony could. He need not have worried as one of the older Auror's came forward and took the wand. His own wand was already out and a moment later pictures formed.

"For the record, can you tell us the owner and spells this wand has produced?"

The Auror looked over at Maldue and received a nod.

"This wand belongs to Dulcia Woodrow. The last spell this wand produced was the Avarda Kedava curse, which missed its intended target, the second to last spell was Nox." The murmur of voices rose.

"Thank You," Adam said stopping the man continuing further. "Miss Woodrow, did you use this wand to produce the Avada Kavada curse?" His voice now slower, deeper and louder.

She nodded almost imperceptibly as the Auror put the wand back on the table, trying not to get in the way.

"Can you speak up; did you use the Avada Kedava curse?" Adam snapped.

"Yes. She replied the only noise in the room was the quill scribbling away.

"Can you tell who you aimed this curse at?"

She said nothing as her head came up as she looked at Tony. Adam stayed quiet as she pointed at Tony.

"For the record." said Adam, "Miss Woodrow has pointed at the Auror Tony Garrett." He looked up around the room as he spoke and was shocked to see several new people had joined the crowd. Adam tried to work out why so many people were in an interview room, let alone why they were so interested. On the far side stood, a thickset ginger-haired man leant against the wall near the entrance; his scowling eyes never left Adam for a moment. Adam was not sure, but assumed correctly for once, that this man was another Weasley. All the other new people were older and dressed in the usual gowns; again, Adam assumed they were other department ministers. Right at the back was another ginger-haired man, talking to Botilda, this one with a ring of ginger hair, sprinkled with grey, He was nervously playing with his wand pacing backwards and forwards, another Weasley thought Adam.

"Can we end this now?" The girl's father said anger in his voice.

"No," Adam said, angry at the interruption. The entire room seemed to move back at the venom in Adams' voice.

"Miss Woodrow, what is your relationship with Mr Urian Adair?"

Her head dipped down, her shoulders dropping. "I have no relationship with Urian Adair." She spoke, her voice betraying her unhappiness.

"Are you sure about that Miss Woodrow?" Adam watched her father drop back into his seat.

"Yes."

"Miss Woodrow, do you know or have you met Gabrielle Lynwood?"

"No." She said, her voice a whisper, shaking her head at the same time.

He waited for some time before asking the next question. "Miss Woodrow, do you know or have you met Hulda Scrivens?"

Her head dropped, as she said no again.

Again, he waited. "Miss Woodrow, do you know or have you met Luthor Crabbe?"

Her head raised a little before she said no. A general murmuring from the room had risen. Adam could tell by her subtle movements she did not know who Luthor Crabbe was, which puzzled him as he turned to Tony.

"Do you have those photographs?"

Tony said nothing as he pulled the bundle of pictures out of his pocket. He pulled three from the pile and placed them on the desk. Adam turned them around towards Dulcia.

"Please look at the photographs and tell if you know any of these people?" He asked in the same even flat tone. The silence in the room full of people was almost palpable as her head lifted.

Again, she shook her head and said no.

"Are you sure?" He asked again, his voice louder, again, the head shake. "Miss Woodrow, do you know what that bowl is for, the one on the sideboard to your right.

She looked around for a moment.

"It's a Pensieve." She said between sobs.

Adam looked at Tony, who then pulled a phial from his pocket and placed it on the table.

"These memories were taken earlier this morning; they are the memories of Gabrielle Lynwood." Dulcia's head shot up and looked Adam straight in the eye. Adam felt the old familiar thrill of excitement course through him as he realised he had the girl caught in a web of lies and deceit.

"I'll ask one more time; do you know any of the people in these pictures?"

"Yes." She said this time the voice was firm, no sobbing.

Dulcia's father stood up and walked forward, intercepted by the ginger-haired man. He placed a hand on the man's chest and pushed him towards the door that opened as they got to it, then closed after them. Adam waited for everyone to calm down for a moment before continuing.

"Miss Woodrow, can you tell me where you were when you met these people last?"

"A few days ago in a disused warehouse in London." She replied, her shoulders were no longer slumped and she seemed almost eager to talk.

"Can you be more precise Miss Woodrow?"

"Why you already know, you were there; you know what happened, so why are you asking me?" Her voice had risen to an angry shout.

"So you were one of the people who attacked me and Auror Garrett?"

"Yes, you walked right into it." She sat back in the chair and crossed her arms.

"Please continue Miss Woodrow."

"No, I will not do this anymore; you have no right to ask me you bloody Muggle." She rose from the chair, her hand reached out to grab her wand, which Adam had left on the table. A moment later, she dropped back into the chair, followed by her head dropping onto the table with quite a heavy thump.

"Interview with Miss Woodrow is suspended for the time being," Adam said looking at the top of her head before looking around the room, finding that almost every Auror's wand was pointing towards him.

"Thank you, gentlemen." Said Maldue and the men stood back and dropped their wands down.

"You lot had me worried for a moment then," Adam spoke to the room, which produced a murmur of humour.

"We can thank Mr Garrett's speed of action for that." Said Maldue, Adam looked around and saw that Tony's wand was in his hand. He had beaten a room full of Auror's and some very powerful ministerial wizards to the draw, something that had not gone unnoticed by any of them.

One of the Aurors used his wand to lift the unconscious girl and carry her out of the room. He heard Maldue telling the Auror to make sure she spoke to no one when she woke up. Adam smiled to himself realising that they learning from him, much more than he was learning from them. Adam watched everyone else leave the room leaving Maldue and Percy talking at the back.

A few minutes later, the door opened again and the same ginger haired Auror who had pushed Dulcia's father out of the room came back in. He walked over to Tony and dropped a small phial on the table, smiled at him and waved his wand at the table, glasses and a carafe of water appeared on the table. He walked away, speaking to Maldue and Percey before returning to the same point he had earlier, again leaning against the wall.

Adam leant over and whispered into Tony's ear.

"Is that another bloody Weasley?"

Tony suppressed a giggle. "That's my boss's boss, Ron Weasley." He whispered back.

"Miserable fucker isn't he. Who's the other Weasley at the back?"

Again, Tony suppressed a giggle. "That's Percy Weasley, he's the Minister for Magic."

"Tony, who is on trial here?"

"I have the strangest feeling it might be you and me." He said filling two glasses with water. "Actually, I think it might be you." He added.

Adam was about to reply when Maldue came over and stood before them. "Do you wish to see the memories in the Phial?" He asked pointing at the untouched bottle on the table.

"Whose are they?" Adam asked.

"Dulcia's."

"Did you have these before the interview?"

"No, they were taken a few moments ago, while she was unconscious."

"Hells teeth, that a bit vicious isn't it?" Tony exclaimed looking towards Ron Weasley.

"Even he knows the rules on curses. No excuses." He pointed at Adam, his gruff voice seeming loud in the empty room. Ron's face showed no flicker of emotion. Adam decided that there would nothing to gain trying to get this man to talk. Tony picked up the phial and stood, as did Adam.

"Can we all see the memories together?" He asked following Tony.

"No." replied Maldue. "I think you two should go first, we'll have a look next, then we can make copies and the rest of us can look later."

Once again, they stood in front of the Pensive, Maldue, Botilda and the two Weasley's were standing at the back deep in conversation, leaving the last two Auror's who seemed to be standing guard by the door, all the others having apparated.

Adam watched him pour the thick liquid into the water and watched the strange swirling. Together they leant forward, falling again into the same room as the other two.

"Here again," Adam exclaimed. "When we're finished here, we need to go to this place and take a closer look, it's clearly important."

In front of them was the same disused warehouse, no sunlight streaming in this time, only a dull greyness. They could see Clerkin and Adair, chatting together on low chairs. Scriven's was sitting on a large cushion on the floor with Lynwood and Woodrow. They could see the faces this time and they could hear their voices. The scene in front of them seemed to shimmer as if they were looking through clear water.

"What's causing this shimmering?" Adam asked.

"I'm not certain, but I think someone has tampered with her memories, I'll ask when we finish."

All the people in the scene were chatting and eating sandwiches. They listened to the conversations and found they were talking about friends, school and sex, nothing else of interest.

The scene shimmered and they were standing in one corner of the room, this time Scriven's was standing in front, her finger pointing.

"If you fuck this up, I will come and find you." Scriven's said almost shouting, making Adam jump, as this was the first time he had heard anyone say anything.

"How could I fuck anything up and who the hell are you to threaten me?" There was anger in her voice. They watched Scriven's relax.

"Your right, I'm getting a bit jumpy."

"Don't worry, my dad will get me in, and I'll nip down to the prophecies office and have a look. They all know who I am, so nobody will bother me. It's not exactly difficult is it?" They could still hear the anger in her voice.

The scene shimmered yet again, the room had stayed the same, only now daylight was once again streaming through the broken window. Everyone seemed happy, as the five of them sat in a group, looking down at some pieces of parchment, scattered across the floor between them. The scene shimmered again and they were standing in the room looking down at the Pensive.

"These memories aren't as good as I was expecting," Adam said moving back and sitting on the edge of the desk. "If the shimmering is a sign of tampering, then none of these memories are worth a bloody thing." Tony nodded. "Can you find out who did the tampering?"

"No."

"What about wands?"

"They can't tell us the wands usage." Adam took the wands from his pocket and placed one on the table.

"This was Scrivens wand. I took it from her after we hauled her into your boat, just before we were both walloped by her."

"I think we should keep that to ourselves, don't you?"

"That was the second time we covered ourselves with glory. Did she have a wand when you caught her?" Tony's eyes lit up and reached into his left pocket and pulled another wand out. His own wand was in his hand a moment later.

"This one first." Said Adam handing the original to Tony.

Tony took it and interrogated it, many images that meant nothing to Adam flashed from the end of the wand.

"What does this tell us?"

"She has been using the imperious curse on several people and it was this wand that hit Matilda the other day. She used the Inundatio spell to damage the boat."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"A sophisticated spell that can produce a wall of moving force, which can be fire, water or wind, in this case, it was Inundatio Ventus, winds that can be powerful enough to knock buildings down, no wonder Matilda almost turned over."

"What else?"

"I've gone back as far as I can, she's uses the wand a lot, so I can't tell whether it was her who tried to kill you at the industrial estate." He dropped the wand on the table and picked up the second one and interrogated it as before. "Inundatio spells again, pretty powerful, these were inside Scotland Yard and afterwards while I chased her down. She's a big wand user." He dropped the wand down and turned to Adam. "You are so correct about wand usage, we both use our wands for everything, I think it must be something to do with our upbringing."

"Muggle childhood" He nodded back.

"I completely agree," Maldue said right beside them, both men startled at his silent approach. "It has long been known children from non-magical backgrounds become far more reliant on magic than those of a magical background."

"And this is bad?" Tony asked.

"No, not bad, people like yourself Tony, are more willing to experiment and push their boundaries. The reason you are so good with a wand, also, I might add, so is Hulda Scriven's."

Adam took a drink, realising he was quite parched. "Maldue, can you check this memory, as we both believe it has been tampered with."

"Certainly." He turned and gestured for Percy to join him. They both bent over and delved into the memory.

They waited for their heads to rise, which they did. Then they broke into a murmured conversation between themselves.

"You are correct, they have indeed, been tampered with, although we are both certain that the tampering has been caused by extensive use of the Imperio curse and, if I am correct, obliviate?" He turned to Percey who nodded. "I believe some of these memories have been planted, I think is the word you would use Adam." It was Adams turn to nod.

Maldue turned to them both. "We will delay the next interview as Percy and myself have another interview to conduct, which will be in private. If you two have anything else to do, I would suggest, now is a good time." He raised his wand and waved it elaborately over them both. "Tony, you may now, for a short time be able to apparate from and to this room."

"Thank you, Minister," Tony said, surprise in his voice. Adam spotted Percy shaking his head while he looked at Maldue.

"You're not happy about that Minister?" Adam said to Percy.

"No I am not, but who am I to argue." He walked off with a grinning Maldue in tow.


	8. Chapter 8 The Industrial Estate TAL

Chapter 8

The Industrial Estate

Maldue and Percy left the room through a door that appeared beside Ron, he followed them, leaving the two Auror's, who were eyeing Tony suspiciously, having heard Maldue's comments. Adam held his arm out and smiled at Tony. He clasped his arm and the room was replaced by the dingy industrial estate, looking very different in the daylight. They walked in silence along the dirty bare street, wary but certain they were alone. They found the entrance to the building Adam had entered the other night. He remembered the burning sensation that covered his whole body after whoever it was fired their wand at him while he was lying on the floor. Tony slipped through the door and exited a moment later, gesturing along the road to the next building. They kept this up checking each building out until they found the one that matched the memories they had seen.

Inside the layout was identical to the memories, even down to the cushions, which were grubby and dirty and had seen many years' service, not at all like the memory. Adam assumed that they had used magic to make the placed more liveable. Tony was moving systematically across the room, his wand being waved around looking a little like he was using a metal detector. Adam turned the cushions over finding nothing of interest. The large room had all the hallmarks of a place being used as a squat, piles of empty wrappers sat in one corner in a cardboard box, a few mattresses in the other corner was the sleeping area. He wondered why he could not see any fireplace where they had cooked food. Tony moved through a door at the rear into another room. Adam followed finding empty boxes piled up as if someone had tried to create order. Tony swept his wand across the room and the boxes moved en masse to the other side, tumbling as they went. This revealed another doorway, this one locked.

Adam stepped up to the door and tried the handle. Even though the place was a mess, the door was solid and locked. He put his shoulder to it, once, and stood back rubbing his shoulder.

"It's magically locked," Tony said bringing his wand up and pointing it at the door. He heard the lock click a couple of times and the door opened freely. Inside they found a windowless room, dark until Tony fired a small ball of light into it. The room was around five meters square and empty, the floor swept bare.

"Nothing magical in here." He said crossing his arms, looking annoyed that they had found nothing.

"Could the door being magically locked be a trick to make us look the wrong way?"

"Probably." He replied.

"What about the roof?" He disappeared and reappeared on the roof parapet.

The street, some distance below on his right, the left, old corrugated sheeting, which would probably not hold his weight. He walked along the parapet, feeling a couple of the stones move under his feet. He came to the corner of the building, about to turn when a voice broke his concentration, making him drop and grab the stone, his heart thumping in his chest.

"What the hell are you doing up here?" He asked looking towards the voice, finding a strange old man staring at him. His hair was unwashed, long and sticking up, his clothes were equally dirty and threadbare in places. His eyes shone with a strange intensity as they watched Tony regain his balance, standing up. Tony stared at him, his beard was just as dirty as the rest of him, flakes of something stuck to it.

"Looking for something." He replied after a moment.

"I guessed that. What are you looking for? I might be able to help."

"Who are you and why are you up here?" He asked back, realising the man had a strong lisp, other than that the man spoke suggesting he was well educated.

"I'm up here because I keep out the way of them down there and I'm nobody of importance."

"Any idea how long them down there have been here?"

"They came here just before that weird market turned up, one of them went to it, but the others didn't."

"You saw the market?"

"I see lots of things; recently they have been very odd."

"Like what?"

"Like someone disappearing into thin air right in front of my eyes, throwing fire around like it was going out of fashion and people getting hurt."

"When was this?"

"Why are you asking me, it was you throwing the fire around and your friend downstairs that got hurt?" The man smiled at him, showing that most of his front teeth were missing, the reason for the lisp.

"Do you have a name?"

"Not when I'm hungry I don't." He replied calmly. Tony let his wand slip down into his hand, a quick wave and a large Leaky Cauldron sandwich appeared on the parapet next to the man. He watched him take it and tentatively open it. He looked up and gave him a bigger smile than before. Tony stuck his legs out over the side and sat down opposite the man as he took a bite of the sandwich with relish.

"Are you going to tell me your name?" Tony asked after a moment. The man shook his head.

"Not until I've eaten this. I don't want you taking it back when you have what you want." Tony laughed and flicked the wand again and a large hot drink appeared where the sandwich had sat.

"Hello, Arnie." Came a voice from below. They both looked over the edge and found Adam looking up from a fire escape ladder attached to the other building.

"Hello Mr Croft, haven't seen you for years?" He replied just before he took another bite.

"Been busy, isn't it time you got yourself into a shelter?"

"Done that, didn't like it. I like the outside too much. Except for the winter that's when I use the shelters." He frowned for a moment at Adam. "It wasn't you that was hurt the other day, was it?" He asked concern in his voice.

"Yes it was, but my friend here sorted me out."

"He's a bit of an odd one in he." He said looking back up at Tony.

"Adam, your friend here could see the market." He said as Adam continued onto the platform, sitting beside Tony.

"How can you see the market Arnie?"

"Didn't know I wasn't supposed to." He replied between mouthfuls of sandwich and drink. It was clear he was very hungry and thirsty.

"How come you're living out here?" Tony asked.

"I've never known anything else. Actually, that's a lie. I remember having a house, my parents that is. They were both killed and I ran away, too scared to tell anyone. I found a little niche for myself and stayed there."

"When were they killed?"

"Oh, back in 98, I was about six years old. I remember many people dying back then, and then it all went away. Funny that isn't it."

Tony took his wand out and waved it over the man. "What you playing at, those things are bloody dangerous." He replied angrily.

"Did your parents have one of these?"

"They might have done, I don't really remember much about them. It was a long time ago."

"Did you ever go to school?"

"Not after my parents went."

"Can you read?"

"Yes, I met some nice people over the years; they all helped me from time to time, people like Mr Croft. He always used to buy me a meal when he saw me, always told me to go to the shelter as well."

"What's your real name?"

"Whatever my name was, I've long forgotten it." He tipped up the drink and finished it.

Tony looked over at Adam, who, as usual, was interrogating his tablet.

"I have the strangest feeling that your old friend Arnie, is an untrained wizard." He whispered.

"What makes you think that?"

"He has some form of magical talent and from what he's told me, I think his parents were killed in the wizarding wars in 1998."

"Surely you have records?"

"We did, but the Death Eaters took over the Ministry and used those records to find people they wanted. You get to hear snippets of stories from time to time, which defy the imagination. Some things that went on were horrific."

"Can you explain?"

"They used the records to find people were like me, had Muggle parents, or people sympathetic to muggles. They then sent out teams to murder them."

"This went on with none of us muggles knowing?"

"No, everyone in your world knew about it, after it was over, the Auror's and Obliviator's were in great demand putting everything right and making sure that the muggle world forgot all about it." He paused and looked down for a moment. "You realise that if Voldemort and his Death Eaters had won, this world would be a very different place." He looked down again. "According to the things I have read and heard, after the war, the Ministry was in disarray, which is putting it mildly. Half of the Ministry that survived, were out looking for missing people; the other half was trying to get everything back under control. Many people went missing, never seen again. They fell through the gaps. A lot of stories got told and no one is entirely sure what was real and what wasn't. They still don't."

"Chinese whispers, the stories change slightly with every telling."

"I can think of loads, the order of the Phoenix, the cornered four, the Ministries final flight, the Death Eater daughter, the list is endless and it continues to grow to this day, and I suspect we have just found another story here."

"What are you going to do?" He nodded towards Arnie, who was watching them intently.

"I have no idea. I suppose I should tell someone at the Ministry and let them decided."

"Arnie." He looked up and smiled at them both. "How have you survived out here on your own for all these years? I remember you from when I was a probationer, and that is a lot of years ago?"

"Some people I know who live like me, have a habit of dying during the winter. I've lost many friends over the years. I've never had a problem, I never feel the cold."

"What about things you need?"

"Never had a problem there either. Like today, I was hungry and something told me to be here. Low and behold, you two turn up and I get a hot meal and a little company."

"Did you go into the market?"

"I go every year. A guy called Mog has a stall, sells some weird things, always gives me a meal and a drink. Decent guy." Adam looked at Tony.

"I don't know anyone called Mog. I've only been to the Moon Market a few times."

"Which one of them below, did you see going to the market?" Asked Tony.

"Little blond haired one, bossy little cow." He gave them another of his deep looks. "You still haven't told me what you were looking for?"

Adam laughed. "Did you ever see any of them trying to hide anything or do strange things?" A big smile broke out on his face.

"She used one of those stick things, you've got." He gestured at Tony before pointing downwards to the bottom of the building. "The bossy girl used to go a brick in the wall below me, about knee high. She used the stick and a single brick slid out. She put something inside then put the brick back. I didn't know how she did it, but I can't shift the brick and I've tried several times." Tony stood up and moved to the stairs, Adam giving him some room.

At the bottom of the stairs, he had his wand out and walked down the little alleyway.

"Other side," Arnie yelled. Tony moved across and a single brick glowed. Arnie had jumped across the gap between the buildings and sat beside Adam watching Tony as he produced a collection of spells, none of which had any effect on the wall. Tony then produced a string of expletives.

"He sounds just like you when you're pissed off." Said Arnie chuckling.

"I think he may have learnt them from me."

There was a loud thump from below that was felt through the building. Several pigeons on nearby buildings leapt into the air, their flapping wings echoing from the old buildings. Tony came back up the ladder with a small roll of paper in his hand; which he held them out to Adam. He searched through his own pockets until he found a worn piece of paper. He continued to search his pockets until Adam held a pen out to him. He wrote a message on it before rolling it up. After handed the pen back he climbed back down the ladder. They watched him put the paper back in the hole, followed by the brick, sealing it up again. Back up the stairs he stood at the top while Adam leafed through the papers from the wall.

"What did you do?" He asked looking up.

"I left a note with my name on it, just in case someone comes looking for those." He pointed at the papers. "Also, I put a trace on it, so if someone comes here, I will know, and they will know I know."

Tony took a coin from his pocket and pointed his wand at it, a bluish glow enveloping it. He tossed the coin towards Arnie who deftly caught it.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" He asked inspecting it suspiciously.

"Nothing, but if you get into some real trouble, or you're ill, take I out, hold it in your left hand and squeeze it tightly and say, Tony, help me. I'll hear it and I will be here as quickly as I can."

"Why would you do that?"

"We wizards should stick together." He reached down and touched Adam's shoulder and a moment's disorientation later, they were standing in Aunt Matilda.

Adam split the parchments into two piles, dropping them beside the drinks on the low table in the sunroom.

"Start reading, it won't take long." He said taking his seat with one pile.

Several minutes later, they both dropped them back on the table.

"Are any of them making any sense to you?"

"Not really, they seem a little disjointed somehow, but that's the nature of prophecies."

"Have they been fixed to make them unreadable?"

"No, it's unlikely, I think its how you read them, and these are translations from the original language."

"Not very good translations. However, your mentioned a couple of times, along with a huge upheaval in human society, sometime in the middle years of the twenty-first century."

"That's mentioned on a couple of these, along with your name."

Adam sat up and took his tablet out and took pictures of each parchment.

"Won't they end up on the cloud?" Tony asked, concerned.

"No, if you check your phone's memory, you'll find a large section of it put aside for personal use." He showed him how to access this.

"So anything in this section doesn't end up in the cloud?"

"No, unless you have a link to your own personal cloud, which we all do, except you don't." He paused and thought. "I'll set you up a cloud space account, you can store anything personal on it. Be careful though, the force will check it, so make sure you never put work related information on it. They get pissed at you for doing that."

Tony went to his desk and pulled a bound notebook out. The notebook had seen better days and had pages slipped into it, torn edges, the cover, worn and damaged. He dropped it on the table before flicking through. He found the pages he wanted, which was a list of ingredients and instructions, neatly hand written.

"You baking a cake?" Asked Adam looking down as he took a photo.

"This is the hangover cure I learnt at Durmstrang. I always have to come and get this book as I can never remember all the ingredients, especially if I find a shop selling the right things. If I can photograph it onto to this, I will always have the recipe with me. Plus there are a couple of others I could do with keeping close."

"Until you have to give the phone back." Adam watched Tony deflate. "As long as you have your personal cloud account, the photos you save will accessible to you and only you. You'll need to buy your own phone after you give that one back."

"So I could use any phone without them breaking?"

"Good point. The forces phones are hardened, so." Adam went quiet for a moment before smiling. "There is a sale every couple of months of old refurbished stock, I might be able to wrangle you an old one. It won't have the software or the access this one has, but it should suit your needs and you could give Edlyn Balsom a call."

Tony's head came up, looking aghast at Adam. "Why the hell would I want to do that?"

"You really have problems with that woman, don't you?"

Tony ignored the comment as Adam continued to take photographs, taking the second pile from Tony and doing likewise.

"Right, we have twenty prophecies here and now I have copies, we can hand them back to the Ministry."

"They will not be to thrilled with young Dulcie."

"Nor her father. You ready to go back and see if they are ready?"

Tony did not wait, he merely grabbed the detectives arm as he stood and they were back in the Ministry room. The two Auror's jumped to attention for a moment, then relaxed as Tony grinned at them.


	9. Chapter 9 More Interviews TAL

Chapter 9

More Interviews.

It seemed that most of the Ministry was waiting for them both to come back, because the moment they sat down, people appeared in the room, some via apparition, others through various doors that appeared and disappeared with great regularity.

Urian Adair was pulled unceremoniously into the room, from the where he had been kept for the last hour or so. His face was grey; his eyes large, fear seemed to be his only reaction, for the moment. Several more popping sounds were ruining the ambience thought Adam as the rest of the Auror's and Ministers returned taking up similar positions as before. Adam surveyed the room, noticed a few new faces, counting more than twenty people, some he recognised, the most he did not. The Minister for Magic came back last; taking his position up at the back of the room with another person he recognised. She was in deep conversation with Percey, giving looks at Adam and Tony while waving her arms around angrily, was none other than Fawcett Tyndall, the woman who had chased them from the ministry only a few days ago. He noticed that Botilda hadn't made an appearance.

Adair was pushed until he stood before the desk. Adam gestured for Tony to continue.

"Sit" Said Tony loudly.

He almost fell into the chair his hands were shaking. Adam watched wondering if he has used magic to make himself look frightened, or was it real?

"Your full name for the record is?"

The parchment had reappeared and was scribbling merrily away

"Urien Adair Junior". This was the first time they had heard him talk, and his American accent clear.

"Where are you from?" Snapped Tony his voice level and emotionless, it was clear he was using his own form of interrogation, probably learnt during his training.

"I'm from New York."

"What is your date of birth?"

"I'm seventeen." Tony looked at the room. Before he had a chance to speak, Maldue spoke.

"Auror Garratt, Mr Adair seems to have broken laws within our jurisdiction. Like his friend, he is of age." Tony smiled and nodded.

"What were you doing in Lykkeligdal village"? Tony's no nonsense voice continued to hold little emotion.

"I was visiting Dulcy."

"Do you mean Dulcia Woodrow?"

"Yes."

"Why were you using polyjuice potion to pretend to be someone else?"

"I didn't want to be seen by anyone who knew Dulcey."

"Why did you not want to be seen?"

"Her father does not approve of me." His head had dropped and his voice became muffled.

"Sit up." Snapped Tony, the man physically jumped at the command. Adam was unsure whether this was Tony's own voice or he had amplified it with magic somehow, either way, it worked. "Why does Miss Woodrow's father not approve of you?"

"My parents are American."

Adam noticed that several heads moved in the audience and several small conversations broke out, with whispered comments passed back and forth.

"Gentlemen, this is an interview." Adam said angrily, his voice seemed amplified, without the aid of any magic. The whispering petered out.

"What do you do for a living"? Tony continued the questioning.

There was a pause while Urien looked down at the desktop again. Tony was about to speak.

"I don't have a job". He whispered, his voice carrying in the silent room.

"Why is that?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I've tried for several jobs, but I've never got one."

"Can you explain why you were pretending to be a murdered witch?" Tony asked.

"I didn't." His head had shot up at Tony's comment. "I took some hairs from a witch's back while I was in Diagon Alley. I'd never met her, I didn't know she was dead, she was alive when I took the hair."

"When was this?"

"About a month ago when we decided to go to Lykkeligdal."

"You and Dulcia?" He nodded.

"Yes."

"Are you sure you took hairs from a witch and you weren't given them by someone else?" Adam saw the tightening of the muscle around his eyes.

"Yes."

"So four weeks ago you took hairs from a live witch in Diagon Alley?"

"Yes."

"Even though the witch you supposedly took hairs from was found dead several weeks before this?" They both saw him pale as Tony's comment sunk in. Adam kept his eyes on Adair, know what Tony had just said was a lie.

"She was alive when I took them, you have to believe me."

"I am not interested in your beliefs, Mr Adair; my only beliefs are in the truth."

"She was alive." He shouted angrily.

"Evidence would suggest otherwise Mr Adair." He paused for a moment, watching the look of confusion on Adair's face. "Why did you both go to Lykkeligdal?"

"Dulcy had a job there and I thought I might get some work, as the village is busy at this time of year, with Durmstrang School nearby."

Adam was watching him carefully looking for any signs that the man was lying.

"Do you know or have you met Hulda Scrivens?" He shook his head. "Gabriel Lynwood?" Again, he shook his head. "What about Luthor Crabbe?" Adam saw the faint flicker of the man's eyes. Adam saw this and was sure he did not know Luthor Crabb. The rest of the room noticed the comment, causing them all to murmur. Tony laid the photos towards him and pointed at each one while watching the man's every move.

"Please look at these pictures. Do you know any of the people in them?"

"No." Adair didn't look at the pictures.

"Why are you lying Mr Adair?" Tony leant forward, copying Adams way of increasing the pressure on the man.

"I'm not lying." He replied his voice had risen.

"Oh, but you are Mr Adair." Tony took a phial from his pocket and held it out. "These are the memories of your friend Dulcia Woodrow, and in them, you are standing next to her, and to the side of Hulda Scrivens."

"It can't be me."

"But it is you, you are clearly visible Mr Adair, we also have the memories from Gabrielle Lynwood and you are in them as well."

His head lifted at Lynwood's name. "You can't see my face."

"What makes you think that Mr Adair?"

"You can't see my face." He said angrily, rising from the chair, Tony let him carry on.

"The Pensive does not lie Mr Adair. Please sit down, we haven't finished."

He sat down again, calmer now. "We are finished; it's too late for you to stop."

Tony moved, his hand came up, wand pointing at Adair. ' _Legilimens_.' He spoke aloud. Adam lifted from his chair as did most of the seated crowd. Tony remained seated, his eyes focused on Adair. Adair himself was writhing around in his chair as if he was in agony while groaning between breaths. No one on the room moved while this went on for around a minute before Tony dropped his wand.

"Could you explain to everyone else in the room what I have just seen?"

Adair was breathing deeply as if he had just exerted himself. He stared at Tony, anger in his eyes "Your name is Garrett, his name is Croft." He gestured towards Adam. "You fulfil the prophecy, that's all we were interested in." The man's face seemed to go blank just before his head dropped forward, landing on the desk with a loud bang. Tony was out of his seat a moment later, his wand pointing towards the crowded room.

"Who did that?" Tony shouted angrily at the crowd as he stood his wand still at the ready.

"I did Auror Garrett." The voice was that of Percy Weasley, his wand still in his hand. "Ron take Mr Adair outside, take his memories and then lock him up." Ron Weasley moved forward. "Make sure Mr Croft and Auror Garret get a copy of the memories."

"It's very difficult to interrogate people if they are unconscious," Adam said quietly, he had remained seated.

"Yes, I suppose it is. We'll take a break for an hour." He apparated followed by most of the people in the room. Tony was still standing with his wand in his hand, looking at the Auror's who still stood to attention. Adam banged his glass down on the table, making the Auror's visibly jump. Tony used his wand on himself, taking his own memories, placing them in a bottle he took from his jacket. Adam wondered how many bottles he had hidden in his pockets, or did he use magic every time he wanted one?

"Let's get a drink," Tony said heading for the door.

They had sat quietly in the small resting area put aside for them. Tony's shoulders were hunched, unable to calm down, Adam, although angry at the events, knew when politics was rearing its ugly head and knew nothing could or would happen for the time being.

"Couple of questions Tony?" Adam said quietly, getting his attention. "Why did you lie to him about when Huxley was killed?"

He took a deep breath and calmed down slightly. "He was acting, he wasn't scared, because he knows his father is Macusa, he was very much in control of himself, he's an accomplished wizard, so I needed to off foot him, confuse him. The lie about Huxley did the trick."

"And what was that spell you used?"

"Legilimens, it's allows me to look inside him memories, read his mind. However if he was good at controlling his mind, he could effectively stop me, so, the lie about Huxley did what I wanted, allowed me to see how deep his lies were."

"And was he lying?"

"Yes and no."

"One of these days I'll get a straight answer from you?" Tony smiled.

"He did take the hairs from Huxley's back when she was alive in Diagon Alley, and you were right about someone pretending to be Luthor Crabbe in the memories, only it wasn't the Polyjuice he was using. Seems our dead wizard, Clerkin, was an unregistered Animagus of some sort."

"Did you find out who was helping them, because they seem to know where we were at all times?"

"No. But, someone is helping them and it isn't Dulcia's father. He really didn't like Adair, didn't trust him."

"Seems Minister Woodford was right."

"Until the Ministry finds out his daughter stole prophecies from the Ministry."

A lone Auror came in and led them back to the room, which again had changed shape, now smaller with fewer chairs laid out like a classroom, with two chairs at the front facing the crowd. The desk Adam had painstakingly moved earlier had gone. All the chairs were full, Percy and Maldue at the front.

"Auror Garrett, please calm down, you have done nothing wrong, it is just that the line of questioning was leading somewhere where the Ministry does not want you to go." He gestured for them both to sit in the only available chairs, facing the crowd. "Mr Croft." Percy said bringing the meeting to a start as they sat. "Can you tell me what the expected sentence would be in your world for someone such as Dulcia Woodrow, for the crime she committed?"

Adam noticed that the scroll and quill were back, scribbling furiously keeping up with Percy's comments.

Adam thought, trying to get his thought in order before speaking. "Firstly murder or attempted murder by wand is not against the law from where I come from." This brought a round of sniggers from the audience, plus a lot of heads together mumbling.

Percy moved forward a little closer. "For the sake of brevity, let's put it on the same level as murder or attempted murder by the gun." Adam nodded in acquiescence while smiling.

"As it stands, it could be said she was defending someone, a little over zealously perhaps, or it could be said she was trying to kill on purpose. These questions are for a court to decide, not a police officer." He waited while several small conversations went on. "You see, a police officer's job is to bring evidence of a crime to the authorities, who then decide if the evidence is strong enough to go to trial. An officer like an Auror, I assume, does not decide its outcome."

A murmur arose as the Minister's heads came together again, as a lone figure stood up at the back and walked forward to stand at the front of the room.

"I'd like to thank the Ministry and Messer's Croft and Garratt for the invitation to this meeting." Luthor Crabbe smiled mischievously at Adam and Tony.

"Adam nodded towards Luthor, feeling very uncomfortable remembering the things he had accused this man, now knowing the truth.

"Auror Blackguard". Luthor said across the room. An older man at the back of the room sat up higher in his chair, Adam realised it was the one who had interrogated Dulcia's wand earlier.

"What was the list of spells that Dulcia had used, I've been told you only mentioned the last two."

"Yes, sir." He said. "The Adava Kevada Curse and Nox."

Can you do a check again and this time can you go back further?"

The man stood up walked to the front and took the wand from Adam's proffered hand. Pictures seemed to flicker out from the wand much faster than Adam could follow, let alone understand. Several times people in the audience, as Adam was now calling it, gasped as they watched. Adam saw the man's face change from calm to horror.

"Can somebody explain what we're looking at?" Adam asked.

The Auror put the wand down.

"Spells used in order from latest to last are Avada Kadave, Nox, the Imperious curse, several times, Nox again, and the Cruciatus curse." The Auror looked up at Crabbe, concern on his face.

"That's enough." He said. "Thank you for that."

Adam put his elbows on the desk and put his head in his hands. "We forgot to check the Wand Tony."

"I know." He replied.

"All three unforgivable curses. What do you say now, Mr Croft?" Asked Luthor not unkindly.

"Did you know this before you asked?" Adam said as he lifted his head from his hands.

"No."

"I realise you call these curses unforgivable for a reason, but what possible reason must she have had to risk everything. There is more to this."

"Of that, there is no doubt," Luthor said to the room in general.

Maldue and Percey, plus a couple of other Ministers leaned back in their chairs, chatting together animatedly in whispers. After a moment, Percy looked up and spoke.

"Mr Croft, what would the Muggle sentence have been had she hit and killed Auror Croft?"

"As I have just said, what could possess a young girl to commit such a crime? We would spend time trying to understand the reason behind the actions. Could she have had a grievance, could she have some form of trauma?" He raised his hands.

The Minister's heads came together again.

"Thank you, Mr Croft, we will break for a short period, say thirty minutes." He looked around while everyone nodded in agreement. He nodded back and the entire Ministry staff apparated out with most of the Auror's doing likewise a few moments later.

Adam slumped back in his chair angrily. "No wonder nothing gets done, two minutes of chat and everyone disappears.

"They have gone off to chat in private, call up old documents making sure that they get the law correct," Luthor said, surprising them both, thinking they were alone. "Young Adair's father is a member of the Macusa. If they get it wrong, it could have huge repercussions for Ministry relations."

"How come you're still wandering around as if you own the place?" Adam asked wondering why he was still with them, considering he had demanded that Luthor be here.

Luthor's smile lit up his face. "Same problem I'm afraid, I'm a Minister with the AMC."

"African Magical Congress," Tony said seeing Adam's confusion.

"I know." He replied as he turned around in his chair to look directly at Luthor. "You are in the memories of Dulcia Woodrow, would you care to explain that?"

"Not to you two. I have already explained my involvement, not only to this Ministry but also to my own. However, I will say one thing." He leant over the desk and whispered. "That is not me in those memories."

"We had already come to that conclusion." Adam replied.

"Someone, as I suspect you have already guessed, it trying to implicate me, they are trying to destabilise common accords that have been set up between Ministries."

"Is this to do that bloody prophecy again?"

"At the moment Adam, everything is to do with that bloody prophecy."

"I'm not happy about this," Adam said quietly, trying not to get angry.

"That my old friend is something you will have to come to terms with."

"How are we old friends?" Asked Adam, knowing he was missing something important.

"Again, that is something else you are going to have to come to terms with, sometime in the future."

Luthor turned away and walked to the door which opened obediently on its own, allowing him to pass. Adam looked at Tony and could see the look of confusion.


	10. Chapter 10 Interview with Hulda TAL

Chapter 10

Interview with Hulda Scrivens.

Adam and Tony had wandered the strange corridors for some time, looking into rooms, that showed many people, sitting at desks doing many things, most of which neither of them understood. They headed back to the interview room, finding four of the original Auror's sitting on the desk and chairs, the room back the way it was during the first interview. They stood up and moved away to stand at the back in a group.

"What's up lads?" Adam asked. They all looked up at the ceiling in confusion.

"That's Muggle for what are you doing." Tony laughed before turning to Adam. "This lot have never been near the muggle world in their lives."

"Hey." The tallest one yelled. "The Muggle world is dangerous."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Adam exclaimed. "We don't all carry bits of wood that kill with a thought or produce magic to make poisons and potions. Your world is far more dangerous than the muggle world, believe me, I've seen both."

"So have I." Tony added.

"Do you realise that the ministry of magic is talking about assigning Auror's to work with muggles like you?"

"What the hell is wrong with that?"

"We might have to go into the muggle world." The Auror looked genuinely upset about this.

"I think that's a great idea, I say again, your world is far scarier and more dangerous than mine."

"There's also talk of a…" the man stopped struggling to find the right words, as he looked at the others for moral support, and not receiving it, "a Muggle teacher."

"Good," Adam said loudly, knowing he was baiting the Aurors, although he couldn't think of any muggle who could teach these people anything.

"This is your fault, Garrett. Until you started running around with him, bringing back prisoners and investigating things, everything was fine."

"So you often have Wizard on Muggle killings and wizard on wizard killings then." Adam was getting into his stride, anger eroding at what little good humour he had left.

"No, we don't." The Auror yelled at Adam.

A voice from the back of the room stopped any further debate.

"Over 40 years ago, we had many killings, muggles and wizards. I'm reliably informed that they still teach you about the Blood wars in Hogwarts." The man had sneaked back in while they were talking; it was Ron Weasley. The Auror's nodded sheepishly, keeping quiet. "Best you remember your history, to make sure it doesn't happen again, that's also the reason we are here today, understand?" They all nodded again in assent. "Mr Croft, I will remember what you said; it will be used later in evidence." He apparated out as he finished speaking.

They all looked uncomfortably at each other

"What the fuck did he mean by that?" Adam said breaking the silence.

"I'm pretty sure you'll live to regret whatever it was," Tony whispered.

"Tony was it you who put Hulda Scrivens in St Mungo's." Asked the older Auror, getting over his earlier shock. He nodded. "What the hell spell did you hit her with?"

"It was one of my own." He said sheepishly. "It was slightly better or worse than I expected."

"Where did you get the idea to make a new spell like that?" The Auror asked.

"Master Demitri Anatoli and I'm not really sure it's a new spell."

"What", exclaimed the Auror, "isn't he the dark arts master at Durmstrang?" Adam watched the other Auror's look surprised at his comment.

"He's professor for Defence against the Dark Arts," Tony replied, annoyance in his voice.

"Come on, all dark art teachers are weird." Tony laughed at this comment, agreeing with him.

"Demitri is no exception."

"I don't like the sound of this dark arts stuff," Adam said staring at Tony, expecting an answer.

"The three unforgivable spells are dark arts, there's a lot more, this lot and me have been trained so we can combat it, but your non-Auror wizard or witch doesn't learn it." As Tony looked at Adam, he could tell by the faraway look that the analytical part of his brain had moved up a gear.

"But we weren't trained by Anatolli." The first Auror piped up.

"Is this Hulda Scrivens an Auror?" Adam asked.

They all shook their heads.

"If she isn't, then how does she know about this dark arts stuff?"

"School teaches the basics in defence against the dark arts, you only get further training if you want to become an Auror and you pass the correct exams." Tony replied.

"Again, how does she know about the darks arts, she hexed my wife, put her in St. Mungo's, and dammed near put me and Tony here in there as well." Nobody answered, though they were obviously thinking about it. "I assume all this can be taught?" They nodded. "Can you learn it yourself the way Tony made a new spell for himself?"

They all looked at Tony for an answer.

"No." He thought for a moment. "Yes, but it would take many years of practice."

"And how many wizards and witches have killed themselves practising?" Said the first Auror. They all, except for Tony nodded.

"Can you teach us that spell Tony?" The Auror asked.

"No. When I went after Hulda, I lost my temper and destroyed a large tree in the process. Anatoli's magic uses emotions and deep feelings. Anger makes the spells much stronger. I suspect fear or any other strong emotion will have a similar effect on the spell."

"So the spell you used on Hulda was dark arts stuff?" The Auror asked, not letting the subject go.

"No, Anatolli taught me to produce my spells using my emotions rather than just a word and a thought, like a Patronus."

"Surely that's the Dark Arts."

"No, is a Patronus a dark art?" They shook their collective heads. Tony was getting annoyed by the constant questioning. "Anatoli said I was doing the right thing that would allow me to protect myself better against Dark Art magic."

Luckily for Tony, the conversation stopped as people started apparating back into the room. One of the Auror's waved his wand around the room and the desks and chairs started to rearrange themselves, the ministers were relegated to the middle of the room in a group the Auror's formed a ring around them. Adam and Tony started to feel left out sitting together on their own facing the room. A lone desk was assigned to the front of the room, laid out the way had Adam had done it earlier, with three chairs. The door opened, while Tony shuffled the pictures into a pile, placing them face down. Hulda came through the door with two Auror's, who directed her to the chair, pushing her down onto it forcibly.

"How's the head Muggle?" She said staring at Adam. He could not tell whether she was full of confidence or she was hiding her fear very well. Somehow, he thought, she was feeling confident that no one would harm her here.

The scroll and quill appeared next to Tony's head.

"State your full name for the record?" Tony said, using the emotionless voice again.

She smiled confidently at them both, her mouth remaining shut, then she started to make snoring noises Adam looked at Tony and smiled. Tony took out his wand, whispered something under his breath and Hulda was slammed back into the chair a scream escaping from her as the wind was removed from her lungs; the entire room had lifted from their chairs at this move.

"What is your name?" He said gently at Hulda, each word spoken separately.

"Marion Jane Scrivens." She spat out, her face twisted into a grimace, her body seemed to thrum as if she were being electrocuted.

They both looked at each other in surprise.

"Marion?" Asked Adam as Tony let the wand drop, allowing Hulda to relax.

She glared at Adam. "I don't like the name Marion, so I changed it, all right." She shouted angrily.

"What's wrong with Marion?" Adam asked.

"It's a muggle name." She spat back.

"Fair enough well stick with Hulda for now," Adam said agreeably. "Now, are you going to answer the questions in a sensible manner or do I allow my young friend here to go all wizardy on you?" Over her shoulder he could see smiles appear on a good number of faces, he could also feel that Tony had turned his head to look at him.

"Fuck you muggle."

He looked at Tony, who was looking back quizzically. "Go on, zapp the bitch." Tony raised his wand.

"All right." Her voice high pitched, eyes flickering back and forth between them.

"Sensible it is then. How old are you Hulda?"

"Twenty-Two."

"Tell me, Hulda, have you ever used any of the unforgivable curses on muggles or wizards?" He continued to keep his voice light and conversational.

She stared back at him, seeing her level of concentration as she thought. "Yes."

"Name the people and the curses starting with the most recent?"

"What proof do you have I used any curses on muggles or wizards?" She asked her voice matching his, reasonable and controlled.

Adam slipped the wands from his pocket and held up the wand he had taken from her on Aunt Matilda. He smiled at her when he saw the telltale signs that she was not expecting this.

"I lied about having your wand. Consider it repayment for the sore head." Then he pulled the second wand that Tony had taken from her after she had run, her head dropped. "Consider this repayment for what happened in the Industrial Estate. We have had these wands interrogated and we know which spells you have used and who you have used them on, also we have seen the memories of both Dulcia Woodrow and Gabrielle Lynwood." Her head came back up, her eyes locked on his again; she did not know Gabrielle was alive. "How have I got Gabrielle's memories when she is dead, did I hear?" He held his hand to his ear and waited.

"Well, you obviously know all about that, so why are we going through this farce?" She gestured at the room. It was obvious to Adam she was trying to cover her mistake over Gabrielle Lynwood.

"Why did you attack our boat last week, what were you hoping to gain?" He asked calmly ignoring her question.

He waited for her to speak but she remained quiet.

"Why did you attack me and Auror Garrett last week at the Industrial estate outside the Moon Market?" This comment brought mutters from the people in the room, but Hulda remained quiet, her eyes focused on Adam and nobody else. He waited for her to answer. When she didn't he carried on. "Why were you pretending to be a police worker, inside of Scotland Yard?" Again, she stared at him, her mouth firmly closed.

"Do you realise that everything you did in Scotland Yard was watched and recorded by the forces Artificial Intelligence, thereby giving information on the existence of the wizarding world directly to the police and government, which in turn could allow the whole of your magical worlds existence to be revealed to the whole planet." He had watched the colour drain from her face while he spoke. There was a great deal of muttering coming from the audience. "Is this what you wanted?"

"No." She whispered, shaking her head.

"Then what the hell did you want?" He shouted angrily, leaning forward menacingly. She flinched away from him before looked down, refusing to look at his eyes.

Tony raised his wand and her eyes shot to him. "More of your dark magic, it's you that belongs in Azkaban, not me."

"However, it's not me that going to Azkaban, Hulda." He replied. Adam raised his hand and Tony lowered his wand, not missed by Hulda.

"Who inside the ministry is giving you information?" Her eyes switched back to Adam.

Her reserve seemed to break as a smile broke out on her face. "That is something his dark magic and your tricky questioning will never find out."

"You think you're that good, do you?" Asked Tony.

"No, you've already proved you can beat me hands down." She looked at them both before continuing. "I have absolutely no idea who's in charge, we have never met them."

"More than one, that's a start," Adam said watching her eye flicker for a moment. "Someone must have told you to use Dulcia Lynwood to break into the Ministry and steal some prophecies?" A look of shock appeared on her face for a moment, quickly hidden as Tony pulled the bundle of parchments from his pockets and dropped them on the table.

"Bricks are easily moved with a little knowledge," He said.

All three of them jumped as Percy appeared beside them, he grabbed the prophecies of the table and started to look through them. He looked at Hulda, his eyes dark and menacing, something not missed by her as she tried to back away.

"Everybody not involved directly in this case, leave now." The last word was shouted. Within moments, the only people left were Maldue, an older Auror and Ron Weasley, all looking at Percy. "Ron, Merrill Woodrow, get him and question him, if you need any help with the interrogation, young Garrett here will be available to help." Tony looked at Ron and received a none committal shrug from him. "Maldue, please do the same with Dulcia Woodrow. Auror Garrett with me for now. Mr Croft, please continue your questioning of Miss Scrivens here. The Auror's here will remain present for your protection. All of you, be certain, I will be listening."

They all disappeared leaving Adam alone with a shaken-looking Hulda Scriven's. She looked at Adam, her eyes betraying her fear; she was looking at him in a different light now.

"Hulda, you are in some serious shit."

"There nothing anyone can do. The prophecies state that something happens to the muggle that's caused by you and that Auror." She suddenly seemed more talkative now

"Have you read Trelawney's prophecy?"

"No, no one has."

"Wanna bet?" She looked shocked. "The prophecy you are trying to bring forward is a war that encompasses the whole planet, only Trelawney's prophecy gives the details."

"No, it's not that."

"Yes, it is, who is telling you all this? Who is giving you this information Hulda?"

"I don't know?"

He sat back shaking his head. "Come on, you're apparently a bloody good witch, you must know who is or they are." She shook her head. "You do realise that someone, probably Tony Garrett, who has a bit of a grudge against you already, is probably going to come through that door shortly and rip the information from your head and he won't be gentle about it." He had no idea whether this was true, but the look of fear in her eyes told him he wasn't far from it.

"I know, but I have no idea who it was."

"Tell what you do know, for your own sake."

She took a deep shaky breath before talking. "I received a message to be somewhere at a certain time because you two would be there. I wasn't to kill, just hurt and force you two to do certain things."

"What happened to Eric Clerkin?" Her head dropped again.

"It was an accident. I was trying to knock out Gabby and missed. I tried again and hit her. As I saw her drop, I was supposed to catch her, so we could take her back, but then I realised I had hit Eric and he was a lot higher. I tried to catch him but he hit the ground before I had the chance, then I realised I had missed Gabby and I saw her hit the building. I thought she was dead. Is she alright?" She asked quietly, all the anger and bravado had gone.

"She's in St Mungo's."

A smile appeared on her face for a moment. "Can you tell her I'm sorry?"

"If you want me to."

"Only you, she'll believe you."

He nodded at her, intending to carry out her request.

"Hulda, I have one more question for you, which should have been asked some time ago and I'd like an honest answer." Adam had spoken quietly in a way that had commanded her attention. Her eyes came to rest on him. "Why?" She stared intently at him, seeming to look into his soul.

He waited, giving her chance to talk, which she did not take, however, her eyes had not moved from him once. "I've been to your home and met the people who live there; they have nothing but the highest regard for you and what you do. They are all muggles." Her eyes dropped and her head dipped down.

"I have to." Finally, she spoke the harshness in her voice had gone as she looked up at Adam again. "You're destroying my world."

"Hulda, Trelawney's prophecy is quite clear on this; the whole world will suffer in 2062. Who's told you this?"

She shook her head again. "I really do not know. I've never met them."

"I have no more questions for you at this time." He looked up at the Auror and gestured for him to come over.

Hulda was led from the room, her shoulders hunched; the seething anger at Adam had gone.

He stayed where he was, alone, having nowhere to go, anyway.

He did not wait for long. Tony came back, a deep scowl on his face. He slumped down in the chair next to Adam.

"Have fun?"

"Not really. Percy wanted to know how I found the prophecies."

"Did you tell him about Arnie?"

"Yes. Someone from the Ministry going to have a word with him, help him out, give him a home. Something like that."

"Will they force him?"

"No, and he's too old to train, but he can have a comfortable life. The Ministry will make sure of that. You never know, he could have a family."

Adam leaned forward. "Where are the prophecies now?"

"He kept them."

"What about the photo's I took of them?" Adam whispered.

"Didn't mention it." He whispered back.

The conversation ended with the arrival of several Minister's, the last as usual was Percy.

Everyone sat down, Adam and Tony sat at the front, facing the room full of people, all of which has serious looks on their faces.

"Mr Garrett." Maldue said as everyone stopped talking. "Your spells are seriously pushing the boundaries of safe magic. I can see a great deal of dark magic in them."

Tony took a breath, about to defend himself, but Adam beat him to it.

"I have a saying. If your enemy is not afraid to shit in your hand, don't be afraid to throw it back." This broke the tension in the room as smiles appeared on most faces.

"At times Mr Croft, you have an unusual turn of phrase, some of them are quite questionable to us. However, in this case, I'm afraid I cannot argue with you. My point was that Tony is pushing boundaries of magic that most wizards twice his age would be unable to attempt, let alone be as successful as he was today." He stood up and walked over. "Can I assume you leant these spells at Durmstrang?"

"Durmstrang gives you basics and expects you to adapt the spells to your needs, moods and the situation you're in, which is what I try to do, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't."

"How often do they work?" Came a voice from the back. Ron Weasley was back, again entering the room unseen and unheard.

Tony paused for a moment; it was obvious he was uncomfortable talking this way about his magic.

"Depends on my mood."

"Please continue?" Came the voice from the back.

"The mood I'm in affects the potency of certain spells."

"Again, how often do they work?"

It was obvious he was not going to let this go.

"It used to about fifty fifty, now it's more like ninety percent."

"What made you complete your training at Durmstang." Asked an unknown man Adam had not seen before. Several of the Auror's and Minister sniggered at this. Tony's head dropped.

"I think most of us know why Mr Garret decided to finish his education elsewhere," Maldew said loudly. "And it was with this Ministry's permission I might add."

"I don't?" Adam said quietly, which produce another round of sniggers.

Maldue sensibly ignored his comment although he did smile. "Much of Durmstang's training is both useful and exemplary, while it cannot be considered against the laws we here lay down in this Ministry; I would warn you on your use of certain types of magic."

"Do you want me to stop doing the things I've been taught? I was under the impression that the training I received was exactly what the Ministry wanted?" His voice loud, showing his anger.

"The training you received at Durmstrang will have been excellent and above board. The skills you will have learnt in your defence against the dark arts will be better than most of your compatriots will have received, far better. What I advise against is your experimentation. To some of us, it would seem that you have used the dark arts today, regardless of how successful you have been."

Maldue looked around the room. "Is there anything else anyone would like to add?" The people in the room shook their heads, murmuring to each other as they stood.

"Excuse me," Adam said loudly to the room. They all stopped and looked back at him.

"We," Adam gestured to himself and Tony, "requested that Luthor Crabbe be here and be interviewed, is this still happening?"

"Yes, you did," Percy said, making the room look towards him. "The interview has already taken place. Due to Luthor Crabbe's position within the AMC, only certain people were allowed to hear what was said. Is that to your satisfaction Mr Croft?"

"No, it is not," Adam replied.

Percy shrugged and apparated. The room emptied moments later.


	11. Chapter 11 Luthor Crabb TAL

Chapter 11

Luthor Crabbe.

Again they assembled into, what Adam was calling, the courtroom, only this time the room had shrunk around them so that only seven chairs remained, arranged in a circle around a large table, more like a meeting than an interrogation. Adam and Tony took two together where they had sat before, with Maldue and Percy sitting opposite.

"You realise how much trouble this is causing?" Percy asked, speaking to Adam directly for the first time.

"You realise you asked me to investigate a string of murders, this is how we muggles do things, however much trouble it causes" Adam replied calmly, which was not how he was feeling. Percy nodded and clicked his fingers and Luthor Crabb apparated into the room. He was dressed in his usual wizard robes and was smiling. He looked down at Adam.

"I knew you'd be trouble." Amusement in his voice as he sat down beside Adam, opposite the others. "That's the reason I brought you together." Adam and Tony looked around at him. "That was one of your questions wasn't it?" Adam looked at Maldue and Percy; neither showed the slightest surprise at this comment.

"How much of all of this today has been orchestrated by you?" Adam asked realising that nothing was being recorded. Luthor held his hand up.

"I have another person joining me."

A door opened and Edlyn walked in, looking cool and composed, as usual, her clothing immaculate, accentuating her figure. She smiled at everyone before taking the seat between Maldue and Luthor. Percy looked at Maldue.

"Why is Miss Balsom joining us?" Percy seemed to struggle to hold his temper and it showed in his voice.

"It seems that Miss Balsom has a long-term interest in what happens today." Replied Maldue.

"Would you care to explain?"

"Prophecies Minister," Edlyn said sweetly. Adam recognised the feeling he felt wash over him, realising now that this was Edlyn's power and she was exerting it to a fair degree. Percy's head dropped and he held his brow while taking deep measured breaths. He looked up and stared straight at her.

"I don't see what this has to do with you at this time." He emphasised the words 'at this time.'

"What happens today could have repercussions as to what will happen in a few years and according to certain prophecies, I could be a Minister at that time, so I think it is very important that I know what is going to happen." Percy looked bemused before looking at Luthor, who shrugged. "Also, I was invited." She added.

Another snap stopped the proceedings as a tall slim black woman appeared in the room. She seemed to radiate power, her slim figure clad in a form-fitting pale cream gown, fell from one shoulder to the ground like liquid.

"Good morning Madam President. Glad you could join us." Luthor said as he stood and bowed to the woman. Everybody else stood up and bowed, except for Adam who was becoming bemused by all this.

"Please call me Kalishar." She pronounced her name strangely, which may have been the Afrikaans accent that was thick. She brushed her long black wavy hair from her face as she sat. "As Minister of Magic for the African Magical Congress, I think this little meeting has implications for us all, not just yourself Edlyn, but thank you for joining us." She dipped her head forward just enough to be polite, clear to Adam she was not used to someone even coming close to upstaging her in the looks department, which Edlyn did.

Edlyn smiled back, saying nothing. Adam could feel another wave of desire course through him and hoped he wasn't the only one feeling this way.

"Thank you, Madam President, for joining us." Percy broke in. "However, I would have sent a full written report to yourself via Luthor upon completion of this meeting."

She completely ignored him, reached over and placed a hand on Edlyn's knee. "They told me your only part Veela, was I misinformed?"

"No Madam," she stopped for a moment, "Kalishar, my grandmother was a full Veela. I have some of her traits, but little control over them, Exciting situations can bring them to the fore. Although I find them most useful at times."

"I'm sure you do and will continue to use this extraordinary gift to your advantage for many years to come." She turned towards Percy, who looked as if he was about to explode. "Percy, calm down."

"Madam President." He expelled.

"Kalishar."

"Kalishar. I'm finding the proceedings rather difficult." He turned his gaze on Edlyn. A smirk appeared on Adams'face as he realised that Edlyn's traits worked on everyone, including other women. "I'm grateful that you have joined us, but you could have sent any number of Ministers, instead of a personal visit."

"I could have sent a dozen Ministers, all of which would have been more than happy to be here, but I wanted to meet this most troublesome of investigating shadows." Her deep dark brown eyes moved towards Adam. "Who smirks, hoping no one can see him."

Adam felt a chill slip down his back as her eyes bored into his, seeming to look into his soul, something in his mind was warning him that woman he even greater power than he could imagine. He decided to as honest as possible, whether, by his own or someone else's design, he was unsure.

"The smirk was because I realised that Edlyn's little trick works on all of you and not just muggles like me." He saw a smirk appear on Edlyn's face, just before her head dropped. "Can I ask what a shadow is?" Kalishar leant back in her seat, smiling. "Sorry, my name is Adam Croft." He reached out his hand. She paused for a moment before reaching out and taking his hand. It was then he noticed that she had skin coloured gloves on, close fitting. The perfunctory shake went ahead.

"I wear the gloves because I am a prophet." She smiled at him again, this time with a little more warmth. "To touch your skin will allow me to enter your mind, utterly and completely because I am also a Legilimens."

"Which means you can read my mind," Adam replied.

"You have gained quite an understanding of us."

"I've had a good teacher." All of them looked at Tony, who's head dropped.

"A Shadow is our word for someone with no magical power, you call them Muggles, others around the world have different names. Any more questions Mr Croft?"

"Yes. I have three questions that need answers?" Adam said with some finality. The others stared at him, in which he assumed meant they were waiting.

"One, who took away my memories from my first visit to your world? Two, why? Three, why is the Ministry forcing me into retirement?" Percy went to answer. "Four," he held up his hand, "if you can enter my mind and change things just by touch, is that not the same as the Imperious curse without a wand. And I have more questions; I just don't have them ready yet." He paused again. "Five, why Shadow, that seems to me to be quite a horrible thing to call someone, I mean Muggle is bad enough."

She held up her hand palm toward Adam. "Let's start with the easy questions first. Different parts of the magical world have given names to people with no magic over the centuries, just as you would have, had you know about us." She paused for a moment, still smiling. "Please be sure that the terms Muggle and Shadow are not meant as insults, in fact, these words are generally used with affection." Adam noticed that the others, including Tony, were nodding their heads in agreement.

"But the term Muggle seems like you calling us stupid and shadow would suggest we don't exist," Adam replied amazed that someone was answering his questions. Mentally he decided he was going to ask as many as possible.

"I agree, but you must realise, that during the hundreds of years of self-imposed exile, stories develop, our people, who are mostly not educated in ways of your world, assume you to be dangerous. They know no better. It is hoped that you will assail some of these fears."

"How on earth could I be in a position to assail anyone's fears?"

Kalishar turned her unnerving gaze on Percy. "You haven't told him yet?"

"No, waiting for the right moment." He replied looking upwards, trying to hide a smirk.

"Told me what?"

"When the moment is right, you will be informed, but events have conspired against you at this particular moment." Replied Percy, the smirk still on his face.

"Mean's you're not going to tell me?"

"Correct."

"Does this include my memories?"

"It includes the answers to your first three questions," Said Maldue, Adam tried to remember what his first three questions were. "These important questions are all linked in a clever way. I say clever because it was me who planned it. However the facts, when known, will please you greatly and I think, surprise and disgust you in equal measures."

Adam looked at each person in turn, finding the only eyes not looking back was Tony's, who was staring at Maldue.

Kalishar raised her hand again, regaining control of the meeting.

"I can control someone's mind by touching them as you said, this is like the Imperious curse, but I would have to keep my touch upon the victim to keep them in my power. The moment we break contact, it stops. So, the Imperious curse would be much easier to use."

"How does anyone know that's true?" Adam asked, feeling he was poking a dragon, but unable to stop himself.

"That is easy to answer; I would be running the planet by now." She smiled again, this time her eyes showed the smile as well.

"From my point of view, you already seem to be in charge." The smile broke and she laughed aloud, full-bodied and deep, reminding him of the way Gwen laughed, unreserved. He could see Luthor's smirk and the look of shock on Percy's face. Edlyn, like Tony, were both shaking their heads in disbelief. Maldue on the other hand, showed not one flicker of emotion as he stared stoically at Kalishar.

She stopped laughing, her smile faded as she stared at Adam and then Tony.

"Percy. I see that the three of you have chosen wisely." She stood up, followed by all the others. "My time here is at an end and I've seen and heard all I need."

"I thought it was a prophecy that brought us together?" Adam asked. She didn't answer, but beckoned Adam to follow her as walked across the room. She stopped out of the other earshot of the others. Adam was surprised to find he had to look up at her.

"Prophecies are always best ignored. Trying to fathom them out is always a dangerous game that can have many consequences, almost always bad. My advice to you is to put prophecies behind you and complete the job that has been asked of you." She stepped back. "Until we meet again Mr Croft, and you Mr Garret." She called over to him.

She moved across the room, which surprised Adam as he expected her to apparate as Edlyn joined her. They stood face to face, Edlyn's hand in Kalishars. Adam noticed she had removed her glove. He watched for some time, noticing that neither were talking nor communicating, just staring at each other. They broke the grip, their hands falling down. Edlyn smiled as Kalishar replaced her glove. Luthor walked over spoke to them both. A moment later, he and Kalishar apparated. Edlyn, still smiling walked across the room, stopped as she came level with Adam and Tony.

"You look happy?" Asked Adam.

"I've been invited to spend a year at the AMC. Work experience." She replied, obviously very happy.

"Is that all?" Adam asked. She smiled at him and wagged her finger in his face.

"Don't be nosy, muggle." She breezed out, leaving them alone with Percy and Maldue, who were still deep in whispered conversation.

"I don't know about you," Adam said to Tony, "but I don't think we learnt a damn thing today."

"We put three people in Azkaban."

"Little people and I'm not sure they were responsible for what they did. The people behind the murders are still out there. Also we have no idea why they were killed. I still think we are investigating two crimes and not one." Adam looked around, finding them both alone in the room, the meeting obviously at an end. "What was the point of this meeting?"

"I suspect we were being displayed to that Kalishar."

"You didn't trust her?" Ask Adam staring at him.

"No and neither did you or Maldue."

"Glad to see you spotted that."

"And what's this crap with your memories?"

"That is worrying me, almost as much as this meeting."

"I'm sure we'll find out."

Adam and Tony left the Ministry in the early evening after eating at the Ministry with Maldue and Edlyn. Percy left the Ministry stating he had a dinner date. Tony took them to Grimmauld Place for the night, to try to plan something for tomorrow.


	12. Chapter 12 Knockturn Alley TAL

Chapter Twelve.

Knocturn Alley

They were woken around six o'clock, the house-elf making an appearance, supplying an excellent breakfast as usual. Meninda had watched them both while they ate, constantly looking at Tony, even though Adam could his huge eyes keep darting towards him every few seconds. He had also cleaned and pressed their cloths. Before they left Adam thanked the Elf who stared at him, his huge eyes giving no emotion.

They apparated to Knocturn Alley at seven, finding the office empty. Adam slumped into the seat usually occupied by Edlyn. He waved Tony over. The both of them stood and sat staring at the clear piece of glass, around twelve inches across, which was a larger version of the phones they were both carrying. Adam ran his finger across the tablet's screen, which did nothing. He slipped his finger around the edge trying to feel for a rocker switch of some sort and again found nothing.

"I thought you lot didn't have computers in the ministry." Adam asked as he dropped the tablet down after finding no way of turning it on.

"It must belong to Edlyn, do you recognise the manufacturer?"

Adam shook his head as he pulled his tablet out.

"One thing you should know about modern tablets like this." Tony moved over and looked down. "If you touch them together, they link; it allows information to be passed between devices." He touched the table with his phone. Device not recognised appeared on the little screen. "I thought that would work." He leaned back and toppled a huge pile of parchment, the same one Maldue had righted the other day. The two of them dived forwards grabbing what they could, standing them back up into a pile. Adam's tablet displayed the message 'Device connected' for a moment before going blank.

The conversation stopped as Edlyn came though the doorway, looking every inch the archetypal hammer horror witch, bright crimson tight clinging dress, that left nothing to Adam's imagination. Her long black hair tumbled over her shoulders, heavy dark eye makeup and deep red lipstick did nothing to dispel the image. She even had a small pointed hat on that was the same colour as the dress. Over her shoulder was a large embroidered bag every witch seemed to carry.

"Why are you in my seat? I haven't left yet." She asked in her usual sultry voice.

"We were looking at this?" He held up the tablet. Tony was looking at the floor rather than at Edlyn.

"I'll get us all a drink." Tony said as he went to the door. Adam looked up at Edlyn while she was looking at the closing door.

"What the hell did you do to him, he wasn't like this yesterday?"

Edlyn moved around and sat down on the other chair near to Adam.

She took a deep breath, which made Adam's heart speed up.

"Has Tony explained or told you anything about me?"

"He said you were part," he paused trying to remember the word, "Veela."

"Veela's have certain attributes, that are magical in nature. My grandmother was a full Veela, my mother half, and I'm a quarter Veela." She stopped and looked into Adam's eyes; he could almost feel her eyes delving into his sole he found it hard to look away. "I can't control my abilities like my mother and grandmother can, they come to the fore when even I least expect it. Yesterday the effects were slightly stronger than today. However Tony is a little sensitive to it, always has been."

"You can control your ability, at least you were yesterday." She looked away for a moment.

"You are very observant, annoyingly so." She attempted a scowl that failed.

"So you can control it?"

"Sometimes, yes. Yesterday I was playing around, silly I know, but Percy can be so uptight."

"And Kalishar?"

"She is amazing, I was hoping to go to the AMC for a short trip next summer, and she knew this and offered me the chance to work there for a year."

"And?"

"No and." She stared at him.

"Very well." He dropped the subject. "But this is not explaining what's wrong with Tony."

She sat down. "At school, I wronged Tony in the most horrible way. In his shoes, I wouldn't talk to me ever again."

"What the hell did you do to him?"

"I've wronged him enough to tell you. If he tells you that will be his choice. If he does tell you, try to understand, I was a young girl, at the age girls get interested in boys, "she paused for a moment, "and girls, and I was very interested, but I was also very popular and I didn't realise how my part Veela could cause such an infatuation. I understand all too well now." She paused for a moment. "It may not make Tony feel any better, but he wasn't the only person I made a fool out of, but his was the most infamous and after Tony's sudden departure, life became quite difficult for me, because he was actually, quite popular."

"Was he?"

"Yes. A number of girls were quite upset when he left, one in particular, a black girl threatened to gut me if I ever came near her or him. She waved a particularly large and very sharp knife under my nose. She was a little scary. She blamed me for his leaving."

"Sounds like she was right?" She nodded at him. "I assume she's got over it now?"

"No idea, she went back to Africa when she left school."

She stood up and moved away as Tony came back in, this time he had three drinks in his hands, which he passed around silently, avoiding eye contact with Edlyn as he did.

"Are you going to explain this?" Adam said pointing at the tablet.

"That's my tablet." She replied slipping a wand out of her shoulder bag. It was the strangest wand Adam had seen so far. It was curved like a lazy S with the ends straightened. The wand was almost white, shiny and smooth with a black handle.

"That doesn't look like one of Pinnes?" Adam said looking at the delicate piece of wood.

"It was made for me by Pinne. He is an exceptional wand maker. This is very rare, it's made from corkscrew hazel and has one of my grandmother's hairs in it." She waved it under Adam's nose before tapping the tablet with it. Adam shook his head not understanding a word of it. The clear glass screen became cloudy before showing a strange logo slowly revolving around in its centre.

Tony leaned forward. "That's the Ministry of Magic's symbol."

"Of course." She replied, as he should have known this. "We have to keep up with the muggles to some degree. The more obscure records were scanned onto our versions of hard drives some time ago. We're doing the same with written prophecies."

"You have access to prophecies on this?" Asked Tony moving closer completely forgetting his reluctance to go near her.

She gestured at Adam to move, allowing her to sit down.

"What do you want to know?" She asked, her fingers travelling over the screen, tapping at the screens haptic keys like a professional that surprised Tony, as he thought no one at the ministry could use one.

"General search, of prophecies linked with mine and Tony's name?" Adam said, assuming that the search terms would be the same as muggles terms.

She touched the display with the tip of her wand and spoke Adams words. The screen changed and a list of around a dozen items appeared.

"Why are they all in red?" Adam asked as he leaned in.

"I'm not allowed to view them." She replied.

"Bollocks." Tony said aloud.

"Pardon?" Edlyn said. She gave Tony an opened mouthed look of shock for a moment before looking at Adam. "This is your influence."

Adam watched her stare go back to Tony, he realised the shock was purely for Tony's sake. He looked at Tony as he looked nervously at her. Adam remembered Tony's comment about being terrified of her, if this dangerous woman wanted him; Tony would be unable to control himself, he also wondered whether he would be able to.

"It's important that we see these prophecies." Tony said leaning in close. "Why are they blocked?"

"There blocked to me, that doesn't mean I can't see them," They both looked at her suspiciously.

"I thought you magic types couldn't use our technology?" Adam asked.

"I may be part Veela, but my father was like Tony's, a muggle. I spent most of my time on one of these before I went to Hogwarts and during the holidays. My father was quite astute. He realised we were being brought up in a magical environment and our education in your world would be severely limited. He taught me and sisters all about computers and how to use them."

"Sisters?" Tony asked.

"I have two, one older and one younger."

"I don't remember them at Hogwarts."

"They went to Beauxbatons." Adam saw Tony shrug in his usual manner and decide not to comment further.

"They don't stop working when you touch them." Tony asked.

"No. My magic if different somehow, doesn't affect muggle tech at all. That's the reason I have this." She gestured at the display.

"Do you know some sort of backdoor into the ministry system?" Adam asked.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Promise you won't tell anyone, especially you." Adam was on the receiving end of that smile and would have forgiven or promised her anything at that moment. She looked at Tony.

"I promise. No one will know from me." He replied and tried to smile at her, which failed. She giggled before returning to the screen, touching it with the wand again.

"The backdoor is known to me and only me, because I was the one who put it there." She whispered as the screen changed, this time the lists of prophecies were in green.

"That's very naughty and could get you into a lot of trouble." Adam said watching her. "Be very careful, it could make you a target if anyone else finds out."

"I may be only part Veela, but can you imagine a male or a female muggle getting the better of me?"

"Muggles aren't the ones I'd be scared off." Adam replied.

She turned towards him for a moment, a look of uncertainly flicked across her features for a moment. "Ask Tony about Veela abilities."

She tapped at the pseudo buttons and the first prophesy appeared in full.

"That's Trelawney prophecy." Adam said straight away as he saw the scanned sheet of paper.

They waited while she read it. "That's why you're so interested." She said looking up at them both. "It seems to be three separate prophecies, there's no link between each section."

They both gazed at the screen.

"I think you could be on to something." Adam replied after reading through it again

"Surely the Ministry would have thought of that." She replied.

"Can you show us some others?" Tony asked. She nodded and stated to display each one.

Most of the prophecies were in other languages, so they read them, some had dates, which matched Trelawney's, but without a translation of the others, continuing would be pointless.

Adam sat down beside Edlyn after she displayed the last one, leaving Tony to sit across the room on the only desk not covered in piles of parchment.

"Can you get these translated?" Adam asked Edlyn.

"Not with this computer I can't, it's not linked into the internet. I don't think putting these on the internet, would be a good idea."

"Why?" They asked together.

"No one else has the authority to look at these, let alone translate them. It would be traced straight back to me."

"I think we have to agree that we are the two in question." Adam said after a moment. There was a resigned air to his voice.

"So what should we do now?" Tony replied, his voice sounding just as negative.

Edlyn said nothing, continuing to tap on the surface of her computer.

"I'm going to go now, I've forgotten something." She said standing up and picking her bag up in the same motion before heading towards the door. She looked back as Tony was about to talk, holding her finger to her lips and gestured with her head towards where she had been sitting, before opening the door which closed a moment later, leaving Tony confused at her actions. He looked back at Adam and saw he was staring at Edlyn's tablet. He beckoned him over and pointed at the screen, a copy of a manuscript was on display. Tony's eyes grew larger as he read the contents.

"Let's have another word with that wand maker." Adam said pushing Tony towards the door and out into the street.

Out in the still quiet alley, they could see Edlyn striding confidently along, some distance from them. She slipped into one of the shops that had just opened.

"If they were real wanted posters, then were in a spot of trouble." Adam said almost whispering.

"There real. The warrant hasn't been signed yet, so the only one who knows about it would be the writer and perhaps the people within his department."

"Which would be Percy Weasley and his department is the whole of the bloody ministry." Adam voice was showing signs of anger.

"Yes."

"You actually use wanted posters?" Tony nodded. "If he signs it, or makes it official, how long do we have?"

"Minutes."

"How can we hide and continue with the investigation, when the big guys have all the magical powers?"

"They don't have all the powers, just numbers. Luthor wants us to continue, so we could ask him for protection."

"Will he give us protection?"

"No idea, I'll have to go and see him."

"Drop me off and go to see him. I need to spend some time searching the police data base."

"It would make sense for you to be somewhere safe while I'm with Luthor, so I'll drop you off on Matilda."

Tony appeared in Aunt Matilda's sundeck a few hours later. Adam was deep in thought, sitting in front of the book he had found in Tony's small library. Adam turned to look at Tony, who was almost smiling.

"According to this book," he said tapping the book to make the point, "apparition is a very delicate and dangerous thing for a wizard to do. Most wizards and witches can only apparate to known locations and only short distances; a few miles or so, some are never able to do it." Tony nodded. "You can apparate half way around the planet."

"So can Luthor." He replied calmly.

"Is the book wrong?" Adam asked standing up, closing the book with a thump.

"No, like most thing in our world, experience counts for a lot. The older and more experienced the better someone is."

"Luthor is older than me, probably by a lot of years. You on the other hand are still a kid, care to explain?" Adam walked through the wheelhouse and down the short flight of stairs and into the kitchen with Tony right behind him.

"I'm not a kid." Adam smiled at his comment. "I first apparated at fourteen, by accident. I read a book and decided to try it. You're supposed to be trained in your last year at school. Then I went on to Durmstrang and was shown that experience isn't everything, the will to do something is just as good, if not more powerful."

"You seem to be able to do things a lot of older wizards can't."

"That is the Durmstrang influence."

"I think this Durmstrang influence is going to get you into a lot of trouble." He picked up the full mug of coffee that had appeared in front of him. Tony picked up his own mug and shrugged in his usual way. "What did you learn from Luthor?" Adam said changing the subject.

"He knows all about the wanted posters. They were put in place before you and I ever met."

"What's the point of that?"

"Apparently Percy Weasley likes to cover all the bases and eventualities, so if something went wrong, he would have a head start."

"The man's bloody paranoid. So were not on the run?"

"Not at the moment. Percy has a long memory and learns from earlier mistakes that's why he's the Minster for Magic."

"Sounds like you respect him?"

"I do. Did you get the chance to look up the wizarding wars?"

"Yes, I read though it and I found it particularly shocking, so much so I had to read it all a second time. Children fought in that war and were killed. Some of those killed were only eleven years old."

"It's not something any wizard or witch is proud off. Percy was in the thick of it, along with the rest of his family and he lost a brother and a lot of friends."

Adam shook his head. "What else did Luthor tell you?"

"Lots of things." Tony said shaking his head.

"Which means he told you practically nothing."

"He's typical Ministry. You'll get the information he wants to give and nothing more."

"Typical politician you mean."

Tony nodded as he walked back onto the sunroom. "I have no idea what to do next." He said in exasperation.

"We still have interviews to conduct."

"I can't help feeling we've reached a dead end." Tony said dropping down onto the nearest settee.

"Luthor wants us to continue." Adam said dropping down opposite

Tony went to speak, but Adam beat him.

"You never told me that those bloody dragons could spit fire."

"Would it have made you feel any better if I had told you?" He replied chagrined. Adam shook his head and smiled. "Did you look up Veela talents?"

Adam stood and went back to the desk and sat, and started shuffling through the pages.

They finished their drinks and settled themselves for the afternoon, Adam skimming through another book, Tony lounging on the settee, when a fluttering at the open window made them both jump. A large black object fluttered thought the open window and landed on Tony's shoulder. It was Freya, with a small parchment tied to her leg, which turned out to be two parchments, addressed one to each of them.

"It seems we have been sequestered to the Ministry." Said Adam after he read his, stroking Freya's feathers with his other hand, which had landed on his shoulder rather than stopping on Tony's, amazed at how friendly the huge bird was.

"I don't like this," Tony said dropping the parchment on the coffee table.

"It's only a request," Adam replied.

"Level ten is the courtrooms, where trials take place."

"Perhaps we are being invited to the trial of Hulda Sciven's and her associates."

"I hope your right."

"Don't you trust your people?"

"Not anymore," Tony replied.


	13. Chapter 13 Level 10 TAL

Chapter 13

Level 10

A trip to the deepest depths of the Ministry surprises everyone.

The two of them sat together mulling over a drink in the canteen area; the tube into the Ministry went ahead without trouble as did gaining entrance to the Ministry. The room was vacant save for a couple of Auror's, chatting away amiably in the corner who paid Adam and Tony little interest.

A memo floated into the room and buzzed around their heads until they stood up, it then headed out of the door when they followed. Tony and Adam were taken down several levels and along many corridors that were getting progressively darker the deeper they went. They finally stopped in a large circular room, which on one side had many lift doors and corridors stretching off into the distance, the other side three single stout polished doors. Two Auror's were standing, roughly to attention in the centre of the room. As they stepped out of the lift, they both smiled.

"Biggest audience we've had for forty years, apparently." The first said to Tony.

"Who are they trying?" He asked.

"No trials today. It's the only hall big enough in the Ministry for the amount of people that have turned up. Apparently, you'll be giving a speech of some sort." He replied to Tony before looking at Adam. "As will you." He finished.

"I don't envy either of you." Said the other, shaking his head.

The Auror's turned and walked off down towards the centre door.

A loud cough coming from behind them brought them to a standstill. Back along one of the corridors stood Luthor Crabbe, who was waving at them to join him. He was dressed in his usual gown, although this was predominantly green.

"Caught you both, just in time" He said as they walked back. He turned to the Auror's. "Sorry, this is not for your ears." He said as he brandished his wand for a moment. Adam could feel the blanket effect he felt when Maldue wanted a private word with him.

"Not to worry, I don't think this is a trail." He continued. "You will be questioned, as will the people you have brought to the Ministry's attention."

"Why all the cloak and dagger stuff?" Adam asked both men looking at him for a moment. Luthor smiled, as he quickly understood the reference.

"A lot of the people in that room are hostile towards the ministry. First for not doing anything about the Muggle problem, second for doing something about the Muggle problem, like bringing these people to, as you would say Adam, justice, which puts you two in danger from both sides.", he smiled at them both, "as if you didn't know this already." Neither Adam nor Tony were surprised by this news. "There is also anger at the Ministry bringing a Muggle in to investigate again."

"What do you mean again?" Adam spat. Luthor smiled and shrugged. "So we're in your deepest and most protected levels and you're telling us we could be in danger?"

"This is not my Ministry, but yes."

"What do you expect us to do then?" He asked, lifting his arms up in an exaggerated shrug.

"Tony, get your wand at the ready and be prepared to use it."

"What?" Tony exclaimed.

"Adam, your gun, make sure it's loaded and ready. Make sure you're loaded for bear, if you understand what I mean." He looked intently at him as he took the gun from the holster under his jacket and quickly swapped the cartridges. Tony watched and then suddenly moved into gear, slipping his wand from his pocket, taking it out of the vaping tube and then sliding it up inside his sleeve.

"You can't seriously expect us to start a fight in the Ministry?" Tony asked disbelief in his voice.

"No, not for a moment, but some powerful people in that room are not happy with you or the ministry and I wouldn't put it past one of them to try to take you both out. Is that the correct term?" He asked of Adam.

"I'm afraid to say it is, but what chance would we have against a room full of wizards?"

"Complacency my dear Adam." Luthor replied as he waved his wand, the blanket feeling and deadness lifted. The two Auror's were lounging against the wall, bored, but waiting patiently.

"Be prepared." He said to them before speaking to the Auror's. "Lead the way, gentlemen." He shouted, striding confidently along.

As they entered the room, Adam stopped in his tracks as he looked around the huge room. Several upright chairs, arranged in a half circle in the centre of the polished marble stone floor, dominated the room at this level. Above them were tier after tier of seating stretching upwards for many levels, all filled with people. On one side were a number of people, hatted and gowned in a deep red colour, on the opposite were a similar number and similarly dressed, only this time in black. This was the side the open end of the semicircle of chairs were aimed and several of the Ministers he now knew was seated there, a couple even dipped their head at him and Tony. Right in the centre was Percy Weasley, who also dipped his head. The sides of the theatre, which Adam thought it reminded him of, had an assortment of people all dressed in a multitude of colours and styles. In between the rows were stairs, on these stood Auror's, watching the proceedings.

Luthor walked to the front and smiled at the room.

"I'd like to thank the Ministry for allowing me to enter your deepest levels for this momentous day." He said theatrically, his voice booming.

"You a visiting Minister, you are more than welcome." Said Percy graciously, not bothering to rise. "Whether it is momentous or not, is another matter." Luthor bowed to Percy is an exaggerated way. He turned and pointed at the chairs for Tony and Adam to sit down, which they did. Two other men came from the shadows and took seats next to them; Adam recognised them as two of Luthor's sons.

"We have several things to discuss here today," he continued, "You may notice that all of these disturbances have been caused by our two friends here." He gestured towards Adam and Tony. "They were tasked with finding the perpetrators of wizard and Muggle murders. However, they found something far more sinister, something that could shake the very foundation of our magical world." He paused for a moment, looking intently around the hall. "We all now know of a number of prophecies." His voice echoing around the room, receiving agreeable murmurs from the audience, his hands and arm out wide as he slowly turned around. Adam realised that this was so very similar to the government when sitting and Luthor was showboating in true political style. "I would assume that a great number of you would like these prophecies put to rest." There was another murmur from the audience and a number of nodding heads. "It is my intention today to put an end to the uncertainty that these prophecies are causing, and thereby changing them, ridding us, hopefully of a possible future that nobody wants." Again, there were murmurs, louder this time. "So, I will end this now and prove the prophecies wrong." The murmuring noises grew in intensity as he lifted his wand, Adam could see several people rising from their seats, their hands raised in anger, or surprise, Adam wasn't sure. Luthor pointed his wand at Adam's head. A moment later, Tony was on his feet, his wand was touching the side of Luthor's head.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Minister" Luthor's eyes were now large and turned towards Tony's wand. A loud bang came from beside Tony, with a small trail of smoke coming from it. A second one landed a moment later, followed many loud bangs and flashes of light, again not affecting Tony. The room had gone silent and most of the people had now risen from their seats, the Auror's to a man had their wands trained on Tony. Luthor raised both his hands into the air, his wand now pointing at the ceiling

"Thank you whichever Auror's just used their wands to protect me, as you can see they had little effect on Mr Garrett, nor will anything else you try. In the future, perhaps, you should consider which of our two guests are the more dangerous, as I am more concerned with Mr Croft's gun which is sticking into my stomach at this moment." The sounds of magic hitting Tony's shield stopped and a preternatural silence descended on the hall. Adam scanned the room, noting that Percy and Maldue and several other Ministers hadn't moved a muscle, in fact they almost seemed to smile.

"You are not taking my friends memories, or harming him in any way, understand." Tony said, the anger in his voice making a sound like more of a growl.

"I had no intention of taking Mr Croft's memories or harming an old friend, I was about to give him back the ones that were hidden from him some years ago." He said his voice loud and commanding. Adam kept the end of his gun in Luthor's stomach as he stood up.

Adam noticed that both of Luthor's sons were watching the proceedings with interest, neither had moved from their seats nor drawn their wands.

"You set us up you bastard." Adam whispered in the man's ear.

"No." Replied Luthor his head span round to look at Adam, where he could see fear in his eyes. "I needed to show them what Tony could do if pushed." He whispered, before he stood back from Adam. "Remember what I said to you and Gwen at my home." He could see a moment's confusion in Adam's face. "I said the last time we met you were a Detective Inspector?"

"I remember the comment, but we've never met before." Adam Replied, not sure where this was going.

"Sorry Adam, but not only have you been in this world before, you have been in this very room."

"You know about this Tony." He looked over and saw his head shake. Tony's wand was still half an inch from Luthor's head.

"Gentlemen." Percy's voice echoed around the chamber. "Can we put the theatrics to one side and get on with what you were going to do, the ministry doesn't run itself." Percy and several ministers had not moved, which meant they probably knew all this was going to happen.

"Remember what we said Tony?" Adam said aloud. Tony's head shot round to look at Adam. He had no idea what he was talking about, but was now getting used to Adam's way of making it up as he went along. He nodded back, which allowed Adam the time to move back from Luthor, lift the gun and fired straight up into the air, Luthor threw himself backwards, rear first, landing like a sack, before rolling into a crumpled heap.

"Now." Adam yelled heading for the door at a run. Tony flicked his wand around the room and watched for a moment with satisfaction as dozens of wands flew into the air. This was followed by a roar of disapproval from those who owned said wands.

Behind him, Adam heard the great door swing open and bang into the wall; he turned and ran through it, pulling it closed behind him, Tony sealing the door with another wave of his wand, cutting off the clamour of screaming and shouting.

Adam had reached the lift and pulled the door open with Tony arriving just behind him. The life door slammed shut and Tony yelled exit. The lift sped backwards away from the courtroom just as the great door opened and Auror's poured through it. The lift changed direction and went straight upwards, almost forcing Adam to his knees.

"What the hell did you shoot him for?" Tony asked after a moment of calm.

"The bastard has set us up and I shot upwards at the ceiling."

"I thought you'd shot him. How did he set us up?"

"He's correcting a mistake he made."

"What mistake?"

"He brought us two together, based on the prophecies he had seen, but the important prophecy he had not seen until I mentioned it to him yesterday, which was Trelawney's."

"Which mentioned a war." Tony finished.

"Correct. Now he has seen it he knows what could happen and he is trying to put things right by setting you and me up."

The conversation ended as the lift came to a halt and the door opened. The two of them ran for the exit gate, which was still wide open, a single man, alone in the great atrium, sat at a small desk who waved at them as they sped past and into the short corridor that led to the tube station.

Adam came to a halt as he looked around the empty station, no people and more importantly, no trains.

"Were stuck." Tony said standing beside him, holding his side and breathing deeply.

"No we're not, follow me" Adam said running towards one of the tunnel mouths, he leapt down between the tracks and continued running towards the darkness.

"Watch out for the third rail." He yelled back.

"What's a third rail?" Tony yelled back as he dropped down onto the tracks. Adam looked down as he ran and saw only two rails in the steady darkening tunnel. A moment later, they both came to a halt at a bare brick wall.

"Where the fuck is the tunnel?" Exclaimed Adam pressing his hands to the brickwork, finding them solid and real.

"No tunnels, the trains must apparate between the stations." Tony added sucking in lungful's of air.

"Were stuck then. Shit, I didn't think this through very well."

"All this was thought out" Asked Tony witheringly. Adam ignored the sarcasm and headed back towards the station, with Tony just behind him. They heard people shouting getting louder as they walked forward. Adam had put his gun back in its holster raised his hands over his head as Tony watched. He slipped his wand up his sleeve, raised his hands and waited patiently. The shouting and yelling, which had grown louder, was now becoming fainter. They both looked at each other before dropping their arms and slowly walking back towards the station.

Adam kept himself down below the edge of the platform and peered into gloomy space. He could see two auror's standing at the mouth of the tunnel opposite with their backs to them.

He turned to Tony and whispered. "Are any of the Ministry tunnels real?"

"I have no idea, but if they are, then perhaps we made the right choice by accident."

Quickly they moved back into the darkness of the tunnel as the shouting got louder.

To one side of the dark tunnel next the brick wall, Adam found a small alcove, deep enough for them both to squeeze inside. Lights flickered along the walls of the tunnels, along with men and woman, calling to each other. They heard a woman voice saying the tunnel was clear.

They stayed put for some time until all the noises had stopped for some time. Adam decided he had waited long enough and moved into the tunnel proper when Tony grabbed him and pulled him back just before a tube train appeared from the wall. The roaring of wind and noise of metal wheels on metal rails died back as the train came to a halt in the station.

"Thanks for that." Adam said as Tony let him go. "I'll be honest and say, that just scared the shit out of me. How did you know the train was coming?"

"I didn't, I felt something in the air, probably a magic field just before the train appeared."

They could hear voices as people searched the train, a series of banging sounds as the train's doors closed. Tony pulled at Adam again as the noise from the train rose as it pulled out into the tunnel. They watched the train disappeared through the wall and silence descended again. The voices from the platform quietened as whoever it was walked away.

They gave it another five minutes before coming out of hiding and heading back to the station.

The platform was deserted, so they stayed on the tracks, heading towards the opposite tunnel, continuing into the darkness, not sure what they would find.

The tunnel had closed in around them, forcing Tony to use his wand to light the way. Adam placed his hand on his shoulder bringing him to a halt. He pointed up the tunnel where he could see a soft blue glow on the brick walls and tracks. Tony's wand went out, but he kept it ready in his hand.

"We need to stop and work out what we're doing next." Tony said between deep breaths, noticing that Adam was not even breathing heavily. "You just fired a gun in the Ministry of Magic."

"Percy Weasley is probably shouting about lack of security."

Tony looked at him. "What now?"

"I think following the tunnel seems to be our only choice." He turned and jogged off into the darkness with Tony following.

The light grew in intensity as they both realised it was lights from a station they could see. Adam speeded up, leaving a puffing Auror in his wake.

"Hold up." Tony called from some way behind. Adam stopped giving him a chance to catch up.

"Bloody hell Tony, for someone so young, your level of fitness is appalling, must be your reliance on magic again." Tony nodded back and gestured along the tracks.

"That's not a disused station, its St. Mungo's station." He said between breaths

"Good, a way out then."

"Or a trap."

"Only one way to find out" Adam said turning and continuing towards the softly lit station platform.

As they came out of the tunnel mouth, they saw a lone figure standing with their back to them. It was female and dressed as a nurse, nothing unusual about that thought Adam until he realised which nurse it was, or rather which matron. They climbed up onto the platform as she turned around to face them.

"Are you hurt?" She asked, they both shook their heads. "You used your gun in the Ministry." It was a statement and she was calm that worried Adam more than hysterics.

He was about to speak. "The Ministry is in uproar and you two are now being hunted by every witch and wizard in the country, except for a few that aren't hunting you, which is actually quite a few."

"You're babbling Matron." Adam said quietly, surprised at the normally unshakable woman was not as controlled as he first thought.

"I thought you'd shot Luthor." Emotion spilled out as she spoke.

"I'm not that bloody stupid." Adam replied.

"Of course you're not; you wouldn't be working for the Ministry if you were." The matron has switched back to her usual assured self-control.

"You were there?" Tony asked as he got his breathing back under control.

"No, I was watching and I guessed you would use the tube. I didn't expect you to go through the tunnel on foot though."

"Hopefully neither will the Ministry." Tony replied.

"Your boyfriend set us up." Adam said angrily to her

"He was giving you your memories back." She replied just as angry.

"What bloody memories?"

"How do you think I knew who you were the day you and Carlotta arrived in St. Mungo's?"

"Who the hell is Carlotta?" He asked confused as she looked at him, her eyes huge, in shock or confusion he wasn't sure.

"Sorry, Gwenfron, I'm a little shocked at the moment." She replied. "Carlotta is one of my patients."

"Fine, what bloody memories?"

"I knew you both from many years ago, we became good friends until." She stopped.

"Until what?" His voice had changed from anger to menace. She noticed the change in his voice and looked him straight in the eye.

"That's not for me to say Adam, but I have been assured it was done for everybody's good at the time, including yours." Her voice had changed back to its no-nonsense matron sound.

He looked at Tony and found he was staring at him.

"It makes sense of something I found a couple of days ago." Tony said his breathing almost back to normal.

"What are you talking about?" He rounded on Tony.

"I checked you out after you said someone touched your head with a wand which has made it almost impossible for your memories to be tampered with. Something surprised me, but it didn't make sense at the time. Lack of experience on my part I think."

"If my memories can't be tampered with, what the hell was your boyfriend up to?" He had turned to the matron while talking.

She had looked at Tony. "What do you mean his memories can't be tampered with?"

"Willard Endicott did something to him the other day." The matron looked shocked.

"You haven't actually got your memories back?" She asked of Adam.

"What fucking memories and why did I fire a gun in the Ministry?"

"Don't you know?" She asked as both of them stared at Adam. He shook his head.

Suddenly a loud popping sound echoing around the empty station, the silence broken again by a heart-rending scream as a body crumpled to the floor further up the platform, blood seeping from the body. All three of them ran towards the stricken man, who by the way he was dressed was an Auror. The Matron dropped to her knees, her wand already making passes as she got to him.

"He's been splinched." She said loudly.

"What the…" Adam was interrupted by the injured Auror, who had grabbed Tony's arm. He screamed one word, "RUN", before collapsing back down, unconscious.

The sound of running footsteps came from the nearest corridor, along with people shouting echoing along the corridors.

Tony grabbed Adams arm before looking at the matron.

"Get out now." She yelled, they apparated.

The matron leaned down and slapped the injured Auror on the shoulder.

"Well, done, you almost had me convinced for a moment."

He sat up as two more Auror's came running full pelt onto the platform.

"Did it work?" Panted the first.

"Yes, our young theatricals performance was quite convincing."

Luthor appeared a moment later on the platform beside the matron. "Nicely done lads." He looked at the matron.

"I don't like this one bit Luthor." She said anger in her voice as she turned and walked along the platform. "They both think you have betrayed them." He stared at her back as she stopped walking.

"Are you all right Amanda?" Concern in his voice, rushing to join her. She clasped his hand, allowing him to feel her trembling.

She leaned forward and whispered in his ear. "I just made a huge stupid mistake."

"Don't worry about it, there're no links."

"I damn well hope not. I couldn't cope with that." She pulled away from him and headed around the corner into the corridor leading to St Mungos. Luthor said nothing, looking at the empty space.

Percy Weasley apparated onto the platform still dressed in his black robes. He waved at the Aurors', all of whom apparated out leaving him and Luthor alone, except for one older Auror, who was looking at both the ministers.

"Excuse me sir's?" He said loudly. They both looked at him and waited "Do you think you could explain how a relatively new Auror can disarm an entire roomful of wizards, witches and over a dozen experienced Auror's in one go?"

"That my dear friend is something I do not know and something I am very concerned about." Percy said, looking at Luthor. "It would seem our young Garrett is a much more powerful wizard than anyone could have foreseen."

The Auror nodded, obviously not happy with the explanation, but in no position to demand more. He apparated leaving them alone.

Percy rounded on Luthor. "People are still crawling around on all fours looking for their wands, would you care to supply some answers, because visiting Minister or not, I am very inclined to give you a taste of life in Azkeban."

"You wouldn't dare." Luthor exclaimed.

"Wouldn't I." He replied loudly as they both smiled.

"Good grief Percy, showing some balls at last."


	14. Chapter 14 On the run TAL

Tony apparated them both to the only place he called home, Aunt Matilda. He flicked his wand at the boat and the engine started, having a much deeper noise than before, sounding as if it were revving much faster, the boat surged forward through the air. Adam sat on the edge looking over the rear at the water running under them. He could see Tony out of the wheelhouse window walking around the lower deck waving his wand and muttering under his breath.

After a while Adam joined him on the roof.  
"What made you come here?"  
"I can protect this boat and hide her, very well." He stopped waving the wand for a moment while he spoke.  
"What are you doing with the wand?"  
"I'm placing wards on her, making her impossible to see or find, also I'm adding protection just in case someone finds us."  
"Is that what you used back in the courtroom, when the Auror's fired at you?"  
He stopped and looked at Adam. "No. It's a different spell and it was the first time I'd used them in anger, and I'm surprised how well they worked."  
"I have to say I'm not happy with running and hiding, it's not something I'm used to doing."  
Tony walked over and sat on the edge of the wheelhouse roof next to Adam. "I'm in total agreement, but we need a haven to sit and think in relative safety, for now at least, why we work out what to do next."

Silence descended again for a moment.  
"Who's driving, sailing, flying the boat?" Adam said standing up from the rail and stretching.  
"I told her to go north as fast as possible."  
"Perhaps we should go south?" Adam suggested.  
"Where's that going to take us?"  
"I'm thinking if this boat can be made invisible and impossible to be found, then perhaps we can take it back to England. Plus it's a dam sight warmer" He looked at Tony, who said nothing. "I could get in touch with my people in Scotland Yard and see if we can get help." As he spoke a big grin appeared on Tony's face. The wand came out and he tapped the wheelhouse roof, the boat tilted alarmingly to the right, making them both grab at handholds as the boat did a complete u-turn, before straightening out. He tapped again and the boat surged forward, much faster than before. He continued walking around muttering and wand waving.  
"Before you ask, we're going a lot faster, so I'm increasing the power of some anti-collision spells. However, it will take time at this speed to get to London and we will need sleep and food."  
"How far are we from London and why London?"  
"It's nearly a thousand miles and you said always do what the enemy would least expect. Plus I have a few friends who will help us as well. I hope." He added more to himself than Adam as he climbed down and entered the wheelhouse. Adam followed as the wind whipping past was making him feel cold.

Tony finally convinced Adam that it more than safe for them both to sleep during the night because of the safeguards he had put on the boat. The gentle rocking of the boat in the wind put Adam into a deep sleep, which wasn't broken until bright sunlight flickering into his eyes.  
After using the well-appointed shower, Adam went to the sun deck and was surprised to see a sea of small houses under them.

The boat creaked and cracked after stopping, seeming loud after the hectic rush. The two of them were at the back of Aunt Matilda looking out of the open windows of the sun deck, at the streets spread out below them. Diagon Alley twisted along below them like a glowing snake, the buildings seemingly strange from above. The only building tall enough to see into was the Gringotts tower, which they were attached too by a long rope Tony had thrown out when they first arrived.

Tony silently pointed at another rooftop near to Gringotts. Adam followed the pointing finger and saw that a metal ladder ran from a small-decked area to the ground, almost completely hidden from the main alley. The decked area had a small open door and window, gentle light was spilling out.  
"What building is that?" Adam asked quietly.  
"It's someone's house, I've no idea who's though." He replied aloud, making Adam jump.  
"Won't they hear you?" He asked, still whispering.  
"No, I've put a zone of silence around the boat."  
"What are your plans now?" Adam asked, still keeping his voice to just above a whisper.  
"I have no idea; I was hoping your experience would help." He said a little chagrined.  
"I may have been on the run a few times, although still to be proven, I have never been on the run from wizards before."  
Tony looked at him frowning. "Are you sure about that?"  
Adam opened his mouth to argue and stopped. He thought for a moment, looked at Tony. "Not anymore." His voice sounding forlorn.

"You're very quiet Adam." He asked after a while.  
"I'm trying to piece together the recent events. So are you." He replied.  
"I've just escaped from my Ministry and I seem to be on the run with little or no future."  
"Good point." Adam replied sitting up. "Why did I fire a gun in the Ministry?  
"I don't understand why you did that?"  
"Did someone put a spell on us both just before we entered the courtroom?"  
"You mean Luthor?"  
"Yes, that zone of silence he used, could he have added a spell at the same time?"  
"I'm thinking he did and not just on you."  
"Next question, how the hell did we escape so easily and why are we still evading capture?" Tony shrugged his shoulders.  
"The whole thing was a set up." Tony replied after a moment.  
"I remember seeing two of Luthor's sons, sitting with us. When I fired the gun and we ran, they never moved a muscle; it's as if they knew what would happen."  
"Also, none of the Wizards in charge made a move."  
Adam stood and paced around the small space. He threw himself back into the chair, making it groan under his weight. "Let's assume our little flight from whatever that was back there, was a set up to fool somebody."  
"Who?"  
"Someone in the Ministry, someone powerful who was watching."  
"Sort of makes sense. Surely it would have made sense to have us two in on it?"  
"Depends on how high up the watcher is."  
"Percy and Maldue never moved as muscle, neither did Luthor's sons, surely that would give the game away?"  
"Unless they had set up some sort of defence that guaranteed their safety. Would that be easy to do?"  
"Yes."  
"Let's assume that we've been set up, or used in a game or power struggle behind the scenes, for now." Tony nodded thoughtfully. "How would you find you? What would you have done, put yourself in the Ministry's position?"  
Tony frowned as he thought while he continued to drink. He opened his mouth several times, stopping as another thought hit him.  
"I would have put a hex on the building especially as we would have been interviewing possibly dangerous people." He finally replied.  
"No hex then. Continue."  
"I would have Auror's guarding the corridors and lifts."  
"No guards. Continue."  
"I would have only allowed Auror's to carry wands in the court room, whereas everyone seemed to have one."  
"Continue."  
"Where are you going with this?" Tony asked suspicion creeping into his voice.  
"I'm not going anywhere at the moment, but I am starting to see a pattern."  
"Would you care to elaborate?"  
"No, you're doing fine on your own, continue. How would you find you?"  
"I would set up alarms in all my known haunts, just in case I came back."  
"You mean the Alley below us?"  
"Yes."  
"How do they work and why haven't the alarms gone off?"  
"Because of the wards I've put on the boat."  
"If you went down to the alley for a moment and no alarm went off, what would that tell you?" He asked happy that Tony was now thinking the way he wanted.  
Tony immediately disappeared only to reappear a moment later standing next to the seat he had just been sitting in.  
"No alarms." He said, looking even more confused than ever.  
"What does that tell you?"  
"Nobody is looking for us, at least not seriously."  
Adam smiled at him as he sat back down, heavily this time as if a weight was on his shoulders.  
"We know Luthor set us up." Tony continued, on a different track.  
"Are we sure of that?"  
"Aren't we?" He replied, confused.  
"I'm not as sure as I was."  
"The ministry does not know who committed the murders of the muggles and wizards. They also don't know who is the controller behind all of this."  
"You mean, who is running the show?"  
"What is the likelihood that Luthor and Percy are working together?"  
"They're both Ministers."  
"Does that answer my question?" He asked.  
"No." Tony replied, sinking further down into the chair. "Are you suggesting we've been set up by the Ministry and Luthor, which would mean the AMC is involved as well?"  
"Why did I shoot up the Ministry? I cannot for the life of me work out why I did that." Adam shook his head perplexed as he remembered his actions. "Has someone put a hex on me, forcing me to act in that way?" Tony pulled his wand out and waved it at him.  
"Someone has done something to you, I realised that from a couple of times now, but I can't find anything that would make you fire your gun, but then again, I'm really not that experienced."  
"You keep saying that and I don't think you believe it. Here's an idea. The Ministry does not know who is behind the murders and neither does Luthor. They need a plan to flush out said people."  
Tony sat up in the chair. "You think we're being used as scapegoats?"  
"Do you mean bait?"  
"Yes, why didn't you mention this while we've been travelling?" Tony asked after a moment.  
"I needed time to think, something we've had little chance to do, especially me, trying to come to terms with all of this." He gestured around the room. "I've said before that you are wrapped up in a magical cocoon, expecting your magic to provide you with answers, or get us out of trouble." Tony went to speak, but Adam held up his hand. "Mostly, your magic is seeing you through with ease, but I think it is being used against you and me, or it is clouding your judgement, it's certainly been clouding mine." He added, going quiet allowing Tony to speak up, which he didn't for a quite some time.  
Adam decided he wasn't going to speak. "We need to know if they are looking for us, or they know where we are?"  
"There's no way they could know where we are or find us."  
"Are you sure of that?"  
"Yes, but I'm going to check, anyway." He replied.  
"Good man." Adam said. "I am out of my depth in your world, but I understand human nature, your people are no different to us in that regard."  
Tony stood and disappeared like last time, this time he was gone for a lot longer.  
Just as Adam started to feel worried, he reappeared, clutching pieces of parchment that he dropped on the desk.  
"Where have you been?" He asked.  
"First, I dropped into the Auror's office, stupid I know, but it seemed prudent to go straight to the point of possible information, regardless of the danger."  
"Good idea."  
"I found these." He spread the pieces of paper out over the table. Both of their faces were on the paper, moving from side to side, underneath were the words, 'Missing, Please inform the Ministry if you see or contact Adam Croft, Muggle, and Tony Garret, Auror. Do not approach these men.'  
"So they don't know where we are." Adam said looking up.  
"Your conspiracy theories keep getting into my head."  
"So they should."  
"I dropped into Pinne's shop. The man could snore for the Ministry, doesn't like being woken up either, grumpy bastard."  
"And." Adam said smiling at the thought of the huge Viking being brought out of deep sleep, something he would not want to do willingly.  
"He asked me where the hell I had been as everyone at the Ministry were trying to find me, apparently questions have been asked as to what went on in the ministry. However he did hear a couple of Auror's talking in the Leaky Cauldron the other night about Hulda Scrivens being released to her home, under guard."  
"House arrest, but why?" Adam asked.  
"More bait perhaps?" Adam nodded.  
"When was she released?"  
"Pinne said he thought it was sometime yesterday evening."  
"There is a problem," Adam said after a moment.  
"Only one."  
"Is she bait for them or us?"  
"They don't need bait for us, we are the bait, but there's only one way to find out."  
"True and this time I am going armed for bear." Adam said as he patted his chest over his gun.

Tony and Adam appeared on a small pathway, dawn was just breaking and birds were singing away and the smell of summer plants pervaded everything. A short distance away they could see a couple of chimney pots over the trees, They walked down the path in silence, watching for any movement, until they came to the small square, the little cottages surrounding it were all dark and menacing.

Keeping to the hedges, they skirted around the square until they came to the Scriven's residence, just as a porch light came on, casting a cold bright light on to the trees above them. They could hear someone walking in soft-soled shoes coming towards them. Tony slipped the wand from his sleeve and held it ready.  
A gentle screech of metal on metal told them that someone was opening a gate; a figure appeared, bathed in a harsh light from behind, hiding their face. The figure was a woman, her hands on her hips.  
"Get in here you idiots." The voice was instantly recognisable, if it was in the right place, but this was not the right place. Adam and Tony looked at each other, confusion in their looks. "Hurry up before you're caught, there's something out here watching and it is not something you want to be caught by." The sinewy shape silhouetted in the light and the voice came together for Adam. He pulled Tony forward towards the light.  
"Edlyn, what are you doing here." He said walking up to her.  
She turned without saying a word and walked back into the house, they followed entering the small kitchen. Edlyn closed the door behind them. She gasped for a moment as Tony's wand touched her throat.  
"Your wand please?" He asked.  
"Bloody hell you're jumpy. It's in my back pocket." She replied huskily in his ear.  
He ran his hand down her back and across to her pocket finding the wand and pulling it out. A giggle came from her involuntarily.  
"I'm ticklish there, be careful." She whispered in his ear again. Adam could see the colour coming to Tony's face as he felt Edlyn's talent burst forth.  
He stepped back with the s-shaped wand in his hand. He lifted his own wand to the tip for a moment before handing it her back.  
"Don't you want to put it back from where you got it from?" Tony didn't trust himself to speak, still blushing furiously, he held the wand out towards her until she took it from him.  
Adam noticed that considering the time in the morning, she was immaculately dressed, not a hair out of place. She wore a form fitting black suit that showed off her figure to great advantage, as did everything she wore, except for the fluffy pink slippers.  
"Well you two certainly pissed everybody off." She said after a moment. "I've been in this house for ages waiting for you."  
"I thought you were going to the AMC yesterday?" Adam said.  
"I was, but something came up."  
"What something?" Tony asked.  
"Two berks shot up the Ministry and then disappeared." Tony looked at Adam and grinned.  
"It's not funny." She almost barked at Tony. "Percy wanted you hunted down, Maldue and Luthor persuaded him otherwise."  
"How did you know we would come here?" Adam asked, his usual distrust of this woman coming to the fore.  
"We didn't, we have people at as many locations as possible in the hope you'd turn up. We were thinking you'd had been killed or worse."  
Adam opened his mouth about to ask the obvious question and then decided he didn't want to know.  
"Why were you looking for us?" Tony asked, getting himself under control as he moved away as possible from Edlyn.  
"You weren't supposed to shoot the Ministry up, you were supposed to make a grand escape." She said looking at Adam. Again, Adams mouth opened and again he closed it again. "It was planned that you would be given a reason to distrust what was going on in the ministry the day before yesterday. It worked like a dream, you made a great escape, making everyone thinks you were on the run, you even made the Prophets front page."  
"Which worked perfectly, but why?" Adam asked.  
"You're being watched by someone in the Ministry and nobody knows who."  
"So we were set up as bait." Adam said angrily, nodding at Tony.  
"You and Luthor planned it." She rounded on Adam, anger in her voice. Adam noticed a change in her, a subtle difference, the ultra feminine side was missing, she was now all business like and angry.  
"Luthor may have planned it, but he didn't tell me or Tony. He set us both up."  
"How did he set you up? You were supposed to get your memories back." Even all business like and angry, she flounced across the little kitchen to stand next to Tony.  
"He set us up as bait for whoever is running the show, who's behind the murders."  
"We know who committed the murders, you brought them in."  
"Hold on." Tony said, holding his hand up in front of them both. "First, we have brought nobody in for any murders, second, what the hell is your involvement in all of this, you're just a ministry worker, and suddenly you're all knowing?" He had noticed the change in her.  
She turned towards Tony, her immaculate eyebrows raised as her stare bore into Tony. There was something very intimidating about the stare, something he had never seen from her before, which was more scary than usual.  
"I work directly to Minister Maldue Ledford." Her face was an inch from Tony's, eyeball to eyeball, she was almost as tall as him, but she suddenly seemed bigger. Tony tried to step back from her, but the sink got in his way. "My job was to keep an eye on you and your friend here, to make things as easy as possible, while you worked together."  
Adam took pity on Tony. "What exactly is your job Edlyn?" He asked, keeping his voice soft. She turned towards him.  
"When a wizard goes bad, the first person they call on is an Auror, but who polices the Auror's?" Adam looked at Tony for an answer. At first glance, it was obviously news to him.  
She turned away from them both and walked into the living room, which was in darkness, her wand appeared in her hand and a soft light sprang from the end of it and sailed across the room to hang in the corner, casting a warm glow around the room.  
She sat down on the sofa, gesturing to Adam to take the chair. She patted the seat beside her for Tony to sit. He paused.  
"Hell's teeth Tony, you know I don't bite, sit down." Tony sat, surprised at himself. Adam realised why he recognised the tone of voice, it was like Gwen's, when she wanted him to do as he was told and listen.  
She waited for a moment from them both to get comfortable, her wand was used again and drinks appeared on the table.  
"When the Minister for Magic, Percy, received a memo from someone demanding that they put you two together to investigate a series of murders, do you think he did it without checking things out first?" She looked at them both as they nodded. "He got Maldue to do some checking, which means he got me to do the checking. I know the muggle world as well as your two. I looked into both of your backgrounds, your whole backgrounds." She paused and looked at Adam. "Yours makes for some great reading." She looked at Tony. "Yours not so."  
Tony crossed his arms. "Still with the insults." She smiled back.  
"I already knew most of it."  
"You caused most of it." He said defensively. She turned about to attack back; anger in her eyes but something stopped her.  
"Your right of course, but you can't blame me for all of it." Her voice had softened. Tony nodded in agreement, not trusting himself to speak.  
In the pause, Adam spoke up. "What about my memories?"  
"Your memories were removed the last time you worked with us."  
"Come again?" Adam asked.  
"You worked with the ministry in 2031 on a series of disappearances in your parliament; several MP's went missing, which to this day have never been found."  
"I remember the case, but your people were never involved." Adam said his voice now full of doubt.  
"What can you remember about the case?" She asked.  
"Three MP's were kidnapped, we found them after a long convoluted search, we found the purps, perpetrators," he added as Tony frowned, "we got all the evidence ready for the prosecutors to go to court, then the case was closed. I never found out why." He paused for a moment remembering another conversation he had a few days ago. "All the details, case notes and evidence has all been placed on a secrecy list and no one can view them."  
"The MP's were never found." She replied.  
"I remember finding them myself." He exclaimed.  
"No you didn't, but you caught, the purps, as you call them." Adam stared at her, confusion in his face. She continued. "You were working with another Auror, who died during the investigation. How he died isn't important."  
"Why were my memories taken, because I had been inside the Ministry for Magic, seen everything about your world?"  
"No, the reason for the memory removal was the way the Auror died; apparently it was you who demanded it."  
"What?" His voice rose in shock. She nodded back.  
"How did he die?"  
"I have no idea."  
"Seriously."  
She nodded at him again. "There isn't much in the ministry I don't know about, but this is one of them. I am not allowed to know and neither are you, at the moment."

Tony was looking at Edlyn, it was if she was a new person.  
"It almost sounds as if you practically run the ministry?" He asked.  
"Not yet." She replied, her infectious smile lit up her face. "Maldue is a brilliant man, however these days he spends most of the time looking for his wand, or his..." she shrugged not finishing the sentence.  
"So you run his department?"  
"Near enough."  
"Does the Minister for Magic know this?"  
"Of course he does, it was him who asked me to step in. I've known Percy for a long time."  
"You're only twenty six." Tony exclaimed.  
"So are you and I read reports about your magic that would put most experienced wizards to shame? You scared the hell out of everyone at the ministry."  
"So are you going to be the Minister for Magic, any time soon?" Adam asked.  
"You already know the answer to that, remember our meeting with Kalishar?" He nodded. "In eighteen months' time, your lot elect a new Prime Minister; they will of course get a new undersecretary." She smiled at them both.  
"Working in the muggle world." Said Tony.  
"Having experience or parentage in the muggle world used to be a guarantee of your getting no chance of promotion, these days, it is imperative. Those with muggle backgrounds are usually first in the queue, Tony." She emphasised his name.  
"That's all very good, but you still haven't explained the comment you made about us bringing the murderers in, which we didn't." Tony spoke staring intently at her, trying to make her feel uneasy, which failed.  
"Hulda." She replied.  
"Hulda and her friends were not the killers of the muggles and wizards." She frowned at them.  
"Then why did you bring them in then?"  
"They committed other crimes. We're investigating two separated cases."  
"Does the Ministry know this?"  
"Of course


	15. Chapter 15 Arcadius TAL

Chapter 15.

Arcadius.

Tony had brought them back to Aunt Matilda after leaving Edlyn in the Scrivens house, tidying up before the Scrivens came back from their holiday, which is where they had been all along, cruising in Bermuda. Tony had spent the morning reading a huge tomb of a book spread out on the desk, with several small books open, while Adam was reading through a few of Tony's history books, which hadn't been opened in many years. Adam leaned through the open window at the rear of Aunt Matilda, looking down on the empty alley, watching a lone-gowned figure ambling along, looking into all the windows, as he went. He watched as the figure turned into Nocturn Ally and then into the Auror's office.

He called Tony.

"What's up?" He asked, happy for the break. "Thought of something?"

"Not yet. Look down there." He pointed at the Alley. A moment later, the figure came back out of the Auror's office; his or her wand was out.

Tony leaned out the window. "That's Maldue."

"What's he up to?"

"Looking for something, I think."

"Us?"

"Probably." He looked at Adam. "Shall we have a chat with him?"

"It would seem prudent considering what we now know."

Tony headed out onto the lower deck room with Adam in tow expecting him to use his wand to call the man. He apparated and reappeared again a moment later, this time he had his hand on Maldue's arm.

The old man turned on him. "Garrett, if you ever do that to me again, I will personally put you in Azkaban, understand?" He shouted.

Tony took a step back in surprise. "Yes, Minister, sorry, but I wanted to get..." Maldue's hand came up stopping him.

"I know what you were doing. Where the hell..." He stopped and looked around, then over the side down at the Alley below. "You are far too clever for your own good, were above Diagon Alley aren't we." Tony nodded as Adam led the way back inside to the sunroom "How long have you been here?" He asked when they all sat down.

"A while."

"We knew you were on the move and we guessed you were on this boat, but we had no idea where you were."

"I assumed you knew we were here, or at least close."

"Why would you think that?"

"You were searching for us down in the Alley."

"I was looking for Edlyn."

"We know all about you and her." Adam piped in. "She told us a lot earlier on."

"You've seen her then?" Relief in his voice.

"Yes at Hulda Scrivens house," Tony replied. "Why did you let Hulda go Minister?"

"Hulda is in Azkaban along with her cohorts, awaiting trial, she has not been released."

"Pinne Byquest told us he heard some Auror's saying she had been released to her home, so we went down there to have a word and found Edlyn waiting for us. She said she'd been there for a while."

Maldue said nothing, just shook his head, looking sad. He opened his mouth about to speak when Tony apparated again.

"Where's he gone to now?"

"I suspect he's gone to find Miss Balsom."

"Good, she's been out of contact for far too long." He shook his head and held out his hand to Adam. "Well done you two, you've kept two Ministries totally confused. I suspect you have a lot to do with that." He said as they shook hands.

"Tony has the magical talent, I add the paranoia."

"Paranoia is good; it has kept me alive for a lot of years." Adam smiled. "The gunshot was brilliant; I've never seen so many panicked wizards in my life, scurrying around in the floor looking for their wands. Most amusing. Pinnes none too happy, busiest time of the year and he has a queue of unhappy wizards and witches outside his door. They'll be talking about this and embellishing it for many years to come."

"You realise you could have told us what was going on back at the Ministry before I used my gun and saved all of these problems."

"No, it was our belief that whoever is behind the murders and who is controlling the youngsters, maybe the same person could be someone in the Ministry. We had to make sure your escape looked as real as possible."

"Is that why I used my gun because I didn't plan that?"

"I suspect Luthor helped you a little there, no harm done though."

"What about the young Auror at St Mungo's? He was hurt, it looked bad." Maldue smiled and shook his head.

"One more thing Maldue, I do not believe the someone who is controlling Hulda and her friends, is the same person behind the murders."

"I have to be honest; I thought that. However I didn't want to believe it," he looked out of the window, "because it means you have two jobs to do, doesn't it."

"Three if you consider the one we sent back." He stopped as Tony reappeared in the spot he has just left. He held out a long curvy S-shaped wand.

"That's Miss Balsom's wand, I'd recognise that strange looking thing anywhere," Adam said aloud what the others were thinking.

Maldue looked at Tony waiting for whatever Tony was about to say next.

"I interrogated her wand." Maldue nodded. "The wand was taken from her. She's not in any of the buildings nearby."

Maldue's wand seemed to appear in his hand, the first time Adam seem him with a wand. He waved it around his head once, the wand disappeared again.

"Did she say anything of interest that would worry you?" He asked of Adam.

"She said something or someone was watching and we wouldn't want to be caught by it."

"I would suggest you search the area near to the Scriven's residence. I'll wait here for now." A glass full of a dark red liquid appeared on the table beside the chair.

"Make yourself comfortable Minister," Adam said. Maldue raised the glass at them as Tony grabbed his arm and Ormsone Square appeared around them again.

The square looked quite magical, the many blooming flowers catching the morning sun, so different to a couple of hours beforehand. Tony had both wands in the same hand, he was moving them in a semi-circle swing in front of as he walked forward. He suddenly changed direction and set off at a run towards the point where the new road ended at the car park. Adam jogged after him knowing he couldn't keep this pace up for long.

He was right, four hundred meters in and Tony slowed allowing Adam to catch up.

"How much further?" Adam asked, his breathing under control, as Tony stopped, clutching his side, his breathing out of control.

"Another kilometre, maybe more."

"While you're still able, skip on ahead, I'll follow you up and hopefully cover your back."

"You sure?" He asked holding Edlyn's wand out to him.

"No, but you'll have a heart attack if you carry on like this. Remind me, when this is all over to introduce you to a gym. Go." He took the wand and added it to the others.

Tony disappeared, as Adam set off using an easy loping stride he knew he could keep up for some time while covering the ground. He stopped, wondering to himself why he hadn't asked Tony to take him with him. He was doubting himself, now he knew his memories were not his own, and it seemed to him, some of his actions.

Ten minutes later Adam stopped and listened, sure he could hear a familiar popping noise as he dropped behind a large holly bush, looking around for any danger. It didn't take him long to find. In a clearing, some distance away he could see Tony, wand in hand standing straight, one hand in his pocket, the other holding his wand held out before him. He could hear talking, but not clearly. Slipping from tree to tree, keeping under cover, as much as possible, he moved nearer until he could see who Tony was talking too. He was expecting it to be Edlyn but was surprised to see the back of a huge man. At first he thought it was Pinne, but this man was not as tall, but certainly as well built, but has long black hair down his back. From Adams viewpoint, he could see the back and side of this man, but his face was hidden, however, his long hair was uneven on one side, looking at if it has been removed or burnt, as it looked frayed and frizzy. What was not hidden was the wand trained on Tony.

He could see that Tony was calm and in control, the other man's wand was waving around, almost nonchalantly, both of them confident in their wand usage thought Adam. Then he realised he had seen no one but Tony use a wand in anger, he was hoping Tony was a good as everyone thought he was.

"Are you going to tell where Edlyn is?" He heard Tony's confidant question.

"As I said, she is out the way, for now, interfering fire spitting ministry do-gooder. I knew if I kept an eye on her, I'd find you." Said the man, his voice deep and resonating, sounding somehow familiar to Adam. "Where's your muggle friend, cowering away somewhere?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He waiting for the man to speak, which he didn't, although he could see the man's head move from side to side searching the woods behind Tony. "What happened to you Professor, I used to look up to you?"

"You still do."

"No Professor, killing people is wrong, whether they be wizard, witch or muggle."

"You've been around that muggle for too long, you seem to think they are equal to us."

"They are." Tony's voice was louder, more emphatic.

"They are rats, pissing in their own water."

"You do realise I'm going to take you in Professor." He said more calmly than he felt. The man erupted with deep reverberating laughter.

"A young pup like you, bring in an experienced professor like me, do be bloody serious. You think a couple of years of Auror training makes you invincible, well it doesn't, prepare to learn the most important lesson of your life, the last lesson you will receive.

His wand flicked to the left, Tony didn't flinch as something seemed to pop in front of him. Adam was surprised at this, he knew Tony was trying to get him to talk and waste time until the Ministry turned up, but whoever this character was, he wasn't following the rules. He slipped the gun from its holster and dropped to the floor, the gun in front of him. Flicking a switch on the side, a small laser sight popped out the top. He placed the red dot on the man's back. The comment shooting for bear came into his mind unbidden. He knew who this man was, realising people had been warning him for some time, shame he didn't catch it earlier.

"You were ready for that one, try this." Said the man as his wand flicked from side to side. Again he didn't move as sparks and popping sounds came from all around him.

"Are you done yet, old man?" Tony asked goading the man.

More pops and sparks surrounded Tony, each one louder and brighter than the last and still Tony hadn't moved a muscle, his wand still pointed forward, held in the centre of his chest. The man stopped his wand magic for a moment.

"How are you going to explain me, my partner and Miss Balsom," Tony said filling the silence, trying to keep him talking.

"Sadly an accident, your partner caught by a spell, wrongly sent his way, you and your young lover fought to the death, each blaming the other. I'm sure I'll think of something convincing."

It was Tony's turn to laugh this time. "I always remember you being able to tell a tall story, but that would be the best yet, another one that no one would believe."

Another barrage of spells bounced off Tony's shield, this time they were louder still and the light flashed much more intently. Tony flinched at the louder ones.

Adam spoke to his phone, which connected him to Tony.

He flinched when a beep sounded in his right ear. "Hi, Adam." He said happily into the air. The man in front of him stopped waving his wand around and the noise and lights stopped.

"Where's your friend then pup," Tony remembered when the Professor used to teach him, his usual put down was to call the student a young pup, something that everyone hated because they knew he was demeaning them. Tony realised that this no longer had the effect it once did.

"Tony, what you doing? You're just standing, letting him do what he wants?" Adams' voice said in his ear.

"Watch and see," Tony replied.

"So he's here then" Tony cursed himself for letting that one slip.

"He's watching and filming everything, for evidence at your trial." Tony knew from experience that Arcadius hated muggle technology and would fail to understand.

"You think the Ministry will listen to a muggle and some made up images."

"The ministry will believe it old man."

"Maybe they will, but it will never be seen, I'll make sure of that."

"So you can control the cloud then." Arcadius's wand dropped in confusion for a moment, enough time for Tony's wand to flick, a huge clump of earth exploded in front of the man, showering him with dirt.

"You don't know what the cloud is, do you?" Tony asked. His wand flicked again and another clump of earth exploded, again covering Arcadius.

"Well done Tony, keep him off footed; don't give him a chance to think too hard."

Arcadius returned fire with real venom as the air around Tony seemed to explode with light and sound.

Adam realised that he was watching an arms race happen in front of him, each time the attack was renewed, the power used went up, the more Tony goaded the man, the harder the magic. He hoped that Tony hadn't bitten off more than he could chew.

A sudden break in Arcadius's attack allowed Tony to fight back for a moment, more gouts of earth exploded at the man's feet, one lifted the very earth he was standing on, pitching him to one side. Adam expected Tony to go for the kill, but he didn't, he waited for the man to right himself.

"You had your chance then pup should have taken it."

"Why, to be like you?"

"You know nothing about me pup." Arcadius sent another swath of spells, again bouncing harmlessly from his shield, even though Tony was flinching at each one.

"Is he hurting you, Tony?" Adam asked, concerned. "I have a clear shot if you want me to take it and I'm armed for bear."

"No. He's mine and I'll take him my way."

"They why are you flinching?" Adam asked.

"Because he is flinging some serious magic at me, and it is not pleasant."

"Finish him then, just in case he gets lucky."

"Adam, shut up."

He looked at Tony in surprise at the comment and did as he asked. It was then he realised that Tony was smiling; even though the barrage was still smashing, into whatever was shielding him.

"Come on old man. You must be tired now, time to call it a day."

"You bloody pup." Screamed Arcadius in pure fury, his wand waved, using his whole body, before pointing the wand to Tony. A gout of blood-red fire erupted from the end, heading straight for Tony, who retaliated, he pushed his wand out in front of himself, his own fire erupting out a moment later towards the man. The lights from both met with a huge bang that made the ground move, Adam felt it through his bones as a wave of heat rolled over him. The flash had blinded him for a moment.

As his eyes lost their retina burn, he could see both men still standing, wands out in front, fire spewing from both, crashing together like a fountain of coloured molten metal, spraying in all directions.

Arcadius's face screwed up in anger as the fire continued to pour from his wand, which Tony, with both hands now on his wand, legs braced and leaning forwards as if into a strong wind, was still standing and looking calmly at the man, which was not how he was feeling. He could feel the power that Arcadius was pouring through his wand, threatening to overwhelm him at any moment. He was thinking frantically for something to combat the man, or at least slow him up. Adam had been right; he really hadn't thought this through.

Adam watched, shielding his face as a wave of heat rolled over his head. He dropped the gun down and slipping the phone out of his pocket. He thumbed through the memory until he found what he was looking for and called the number. He ducked down and dropped the phone as a new level of power erupted from the two men, this time Tony was pushing Arcadius, as silver light, straight as a barrel was almost touching his wand, Suddenly it stopped and both men looked at each other.

"You're running out of time old man, the Ministry will be here soon. You can't sort out a young pup, let alone a trained Auror, what happens when the Ministry arrive."

Arcadius released one of his hands from his wand and waved it around. The falling leaves swirled around in a vortex, getting larger by the second as more flew from the trees. A flick of his wrist and the swirl of leaves now three times his size, headed straight at Tony. Tony raised his hand, palm flat in front of him, the vortex of leaves deflected around him.

"Is that it?" Asked Tony. Adam heard this comment as he scrubbed around trying to find his phone on the long grass. He found it at the same time he saw a leg in the bushes a few meters away. This was the moment Arcadius decided to launch another attack on Tony, the light so bright, it made the landscape look black and white. Bright red light was flowing across the clearing towards Tony, who was standing behind a blue disc that was effectively diverting the flow of power around him.

Adam crawled towards the leg he could see, he could also hear a voice coming from his phone.

"Mr Croft." He heard realising that his earpiece was missing.

He pressed the phone to his ear and spoke. "Where the hell is Maldue?" He asked trying to be calm as another wave of heat rolled over him. He could see more leaves dropping from the trees, which were brown and shrivelled.

"Minister Ledford is out of the office at the moment." Said an offended voice.

"I know, he's above Diagon Alley, we need his help, were near to the village in Brighton." He switched the call off and slipped the phone back into his pocket before continuing to crawl through the long grass until he was close enough to touch the leg he could see. He grabbed the material and tried to pull, something resisted his touch as Edlyn's face looked up at him from over the grass.

"You OK?" He whispered, her nod coming back, her hair dull and lank, hanging over her shoulders, her perfect clothing, dishevelled, wet and muddy, a small cut above her eye had trickled blood down her face, now dry.

She crawled towards him, trying not to be noticed by Arcadius, who was still throwing serious magic at Tony, who was holding his own and grinning back at him.

"I've lost my wand." She said quietly. Adam smiled and put his hand in his jacket pocket, pulling the small collection he had out.

Adam held her wand out to her. "Here you go."

"It's not my wand anymore." She said bitterness in her voice as she took the wand. "What the hell is Tony doing?" She asked as another gout of earth exploded in front of Arcadius, showering the whole area as it rained down. The bang had hurt Adams' ears. This was the biggest yet and showed the escalation had not abated. He was amazed to find they still had more in reserve, unsure whether he should be in awe or terrified.

"He's keeping him occupied until the Ministry get there."

"Where the hell did he learn magic like that?" She asked disbelief in her voice.

"That isn't normal?" He asked back, shocked.

"No." She rolled to one side, wincing in pain until. Her other leg came into view, the trouser leg ripped from mid-thigh to ankle, a bloody red gash, bleeding freely ran from the front of her thigh, down around the back of her knee, ending about mid-calf. Adam looked closer realising she had several gashes running down her leg, which could only have come from a large animal. Adam felt his blood run cold am he remembered Tony's comment about this man.

Edlyn used her wand to close the wood and stop the blood flow, but she would need hospital treatment soon he thought looking at the amount of blood loss on the surrounding grass.

"Who did this?" He asked gesturing at her leg. She pointed at Arcadius's hunched back. Adam pulled his gun up flicked the laser sight on and placed the red dot on the back of Arcadius's neck; the gun left his hand a moment later, landing a few feet away. He looked around at Edlyn, whose wand was pointing at him, Adam's heart sank as he realised he had been fooled again.

She leaned forward. "If you hit him with a bullet, he will transform and repair himself and he will be a lot more dangerous to us and Tony."

Adam took a deep breath "I was going to blow his fucking head off." He whispered back as he reached for the gun again.

She shook her head at him. "If he has protected himself, your bullet will miss and he will turn on us."

"With Tony in front of him, no chance."

"Even with Tony in front of him, remember he's a professor, he knows things Tony doesn't."

"Hell's teeth man, she's only a young witch, haven't you sorted her yet." A voice came from the far side of the clearing.

Adam could hear scrabbling of feet beyond his sight in the clearing. He rolled to one side, snatching his gun up as he rolled into the prone position, again, using the gun's sight. In the clearing was Tony, still grinning like a maniac, only this time another person was standing to Arcadius's left. Tony had his wand back in front of his chest, pointing forward. The new man pulled his wand and waved it at Tony, which did nothing, he did several more movements and again nothing happened. The man looked at Arcadius for a moment.

"Didn't you think I'd already tried all of those, idiot?" As he spoke, he pointed his wand at Tony again, fire flowed towards him, and Tony was back with his reply. The new man took one look at what was happening and apparated.

"You have some chicken shit friend's, old man," Tony shouted above the sound of rolling thunder.

"He's gone to get others, and then we'll see."

"Time to end this then." Tony's wand moved and the fire changed to a blue shield that marched towards Arcadius. The fire coming from his wand changed to liquid metal again, his time more force was behind it, enough this time to push Tony physically backwards, his feet sliding across the grass. Tony brought his arm downwards and both wands stopped at the same time, the silence seemingly as deafening as the noise. Tony waved his wand around elaborately and then swung it towards Arcadius. The ground around Arcadius lifted upwards in one huge gout, Arcadius flew upwards into the now bare tree branches. Tony stood back as Arcadius's body landed in the clearing with a huge thump.

Adam was about to stand and walk over to Tony when to his surprised the lump that was Arcadius moved, grew and formed into a huge creature, part bear, part something else.

Tony saw Arcadius's wand flying through the air. He held his hand out and watched if fly to him. Arcadius was now wandless.

The beast roared and leapt towards Tony, just as Adam pulled the trigger, the bullet finding its mark at the base of the skull, the beast dropped and lay still. He was about to leap up when Edlyn landed on top of him, holding him down.

"Do you not listen?" She shouted her voice now shrieking, almost hysterical. "It's not over, we're in real danger now." He looked at her and saw the fear in her eyes.

Arcadius or whatever moved, stood up and looked towards Adam and Edlyn, blood-red eyes focused on them just as Tony flicked his wand, hitting the beast with something, making it flinch and turning towards him, another flick and beast moved again, Tony kept flicking the wand, hitting it again and again, forcing the beast backwards. The beast screamed an inhuman noise, almost as loud as the magic being bandied around earlier. It turned and ran towards Tony, its movement almost a blur. Tony did not move. His wand straight out in front of him produced a bright blue shield, bright enough to burn into Adam's eyes. The blue glow transformed into a huge blue winged dragon, which flew straight at Arcadius. A moment later the beast and dragon collided, the ground seemed to move, Tony flew backwards into the trees, which also moved as if a huge wind had blown through them, the last of the leaves on the trees were stripped from the lower branches.

The clearing grew quiet, Edlyn leapt off Adam and ran awkwardly towards where she thought Tony was, Adam stood up and walked over to the huge beast which was already back to Arcadius, just a man and only unconscious. He was much smaller than Adam remembered his hair and skin grey, he looked old and shrivelled. Adam realised that Arcadius was nothing but a spell.

"Adam." Edlyn's voice came from the trees. He ran, expecting the worst. He found her cradling Tony's head in her lap.


	16. Chapter 16 St Mungo's TAL

Chapter 16.

St Mungos.

"How is he?" Adam asked dropping to his knees, taking Tony's arm in his hand, feeling for a pulse. In his mind, he breathed a mental sigh of relief as he felt a weak pulse.

"He needs to be taken to St. Mungo's." Edlyn replied.

"Take him then, come back for me."

"I can't apparate that far, let alone with Tony."

"Go get help, I'll stay with him."

"Sure." She looked up at him.

"Yes, go." Tony's head dropped to the floor with a thump as she apparated. Adam shook his head as he moved around to his side, giving himself a view of the clearing and the still unconscious Arcadius.

Several small popping noises came from beyond the clearing. Adam was about to call out when he the voice of the man who had helped Arcadius and had left a few minutes earlier. He knew he was in trouble, whoever they were had magic, while all he had was a gun that now seemed next to useless. He leaned over Tony, hoping the grass and trees would provide enough cover.

"He's over here." He heard someone yell, a woman's voice this time. Adam froze thinking they had seen him.

"What's happened to him?"

"Who cares, we need to get out of here."

"Where's the girl and that bloody Auror?"

"Forget them, she's probably getting the ministry, get Arcadius and let's get out of here."

He could hear scurrying sounds then another number of popping sounds and the clearing was empty again. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat back up. He looked around at what he could only call a battlefield. The clearing looked as if had been hit by artillery shells, hardly a blade of grass has survived. The trees around the edge were blackened, damaged and almost leafless. To the left of Tony was what was left of his wand. He picked it up and inspected the broken piece of wood, now sprayed out at one end as if it had exploded, the handle, smooth and unblemished. He squeezed the sprayed end together as much as possible and slipped it into his pocket with the rest.

Adam threw himself to one side again as another collection of popping sounds came from all around the clearing; he had not expected them to come back again. Then he heard a voice he recognised.

"Maldue, we're over here." He called out and several men, dressed in black ran towards him, their wands out ready.

"They've gone and taken Arcadius with them." He called out to all the people.

The nearest Auror dropped and ran his wand across Tony, and then he smiled as he moved back.

"He's alive; we need to get him to St. Mungo's". The Auror reached out and apparated with Tony, leaving Adam still sitting in the ground. He slowly rose to his feet as Maldue arrived.

"Did you say Arcadius?" Adam nodded. "Are you sure?"

"I've met him several times now; he's not someone you can forget in a hurry." Maldue said nothing, but placed his hands on his hips, looking angry.

"What the hell took you so long getting to here?" Adam asked angrily, realising they had missed their chance of catching the people responsible.

"I didn't realise how good Garrett's spells were on that bloody boat of his. I was waiting for help to join me on the boat, but they were all running around Diagon Alley looking for me." He shook his head. "Luckily I got impatient and went outside. I could see them all running around like ants below me. Of course they couldn't hear me when I called."

"How's Edlyn?"

"Unhappy at getting dirty, very unhappy that you have seen her looking so dishevelled, other than that she is fine and at St. Mungo's having her cuts and bruises tended to."

"What now?" Adam asked.

"We find out what Arcadius did to our Mr Garrett."

"Tony beat him hands down, most of the reason this place looks like it does is down to Tony, I have never seen anything like it in my life and I don't think I want to again." He stopped when he realised Maldue was looking at him strangely.

"Mr Garrett beat Arcadius with a wand?" Adam ran through the events, as he did, he could almost see Maldue's jaw-dropping.

Maldue walked away into the clearing, stumbling over lumps of earth. He waved his wand around in a circle. He stopped and looked at Adam. "A dragon, are you sure?" Adam nodded back. Maldue apparated, followed by all the Auror's, leaving Adam alone in the middle of a battlefield. He jumped as he heard a cough behind him.

"I am to be your guide for the time being." Said an Auror that Adam hadn't seen, she was in her late twenties or early thirties, a short plump Asian in appearance, long black hair tied in a red ribbon. Adam relaxed.

"I thought I'd been left behind for a moment."

"No Sir. My names Lee Martinez." She held out his hand to Adam. "I'm the number two, waiting to take over if anything happens to Tony. Where would you like to go?"

"I think St. Mungo's would be a good place to start." She reached out her hand. "Before we go, if your Tony's number two, whose mine?"

"You don't have one." She grabbed Adams arm and he felt himself wrenched into oblivion for a moment before the now familiar foyer of St. Mungo's appeared around him, currently it was early morning and the place was in full swing with people and nurses milling around. Adam held onto the nearest wall for a moment, feeling the effects of the apparaition, which was similar to the first time he had apparated with Tony. He stopped one of the nurses who smiled brightly at him. He was directed up to the third floor, where the matron was waiting for them, standing in the doorway, giving Adam a look that worried him.

"He's fine." She said with any bidding. "He's exhausted. Whatever he did today done him in. I don't think he has spell left in him at the moment."

"Is that normal?" He asked feeling he was missing something.

"No Mr Croft, it is not."

Adam turned to Lee who was beside him. "What sort of magic did Tony use today?"

"I have no idea." Lee replied.

"Was it dark magic?" He asked of the Matron.

"No, whatever he used was something I have never seen before."

"Maldue didn't seem too happy."

"That's because he probably recognises the magic used. As much as I hate to say it, it's way beyond me."

"Thank you Amanda."

"My pleasure Adam." He walked across and gave him a hug. "Gwen's fine." She said before releasing him.

"Thanks again and I still want a word with Luthor."

"I think he's keeping out of your way at the moment until you've cooled down that is."

"Tell him he's an idiot, getting me to shoot up the Ministry."

"I told him before and after the event, did it do any good?" She pushed open a piece of wall that turned into a doorway. He watched it close and become a wall again.

"How come you know the Matron so well?" Lee asked.

"Apparently we are old friends, I can't remember it, but she has been very helpful."

"She scares the hell out of me." She said.

"What can you tell me about the magic Tony used?"

"Nothing. It's not dark magic. If he took down a professor like Arcadius, it was pretty powerful stuff."

"Is he in trouble?"

"No, he's a hero now, every Auror's gonna want know what he knows. It could make a big difference in a fight."

Adam said nothing as he walked forward and opened the door to the ward. Just inside was Tony, still dressed, fast asleep on his back. He looked around the room and found Edlyn sitting on the windowsill staring at him.

"Better?" She nodded as he walked over, noticing that her hair was perfectly coiffured again, her dirty clothing replaced with clean. Now she wore a short skirt, one shapely leg bare, the other wrapped in bandages from thigh to ankle. Lying on the windowsill was her curved wand.

"Wand all right?" He asked walking over.

She shook her head. "Arcadius took it from me; the wand is no longer mine."

"I thought the wand was made for you?"

"The wand chooses the wizard, or witch."

"You're not the only who needs a new wand." Adam said pulling Tony's broken wand from his pocket. She and the Auror stared at the broken piece of wood.

"Did you recognise the magic he used today?" He asked of Edlyn.

"No and I've never seen a wand damaged like that before, then again I've never seen the magic Tony used before today either. It looks like it exploded."

Adam thought for a moment before turning to the Auror.

"Seems you're it for now. Take me to Pinne Byquest shop in Diagon Alley."

A voice from the other side of the room broke in.

"No, I'll take Adam to see Pinne. He has a couple of questions that need asking and apparently I need a new wand." Tony sat up on the bed for a moment before standing, a little unsteadily and then sitting down again. "Wow, wasn't expecting that." Adam walked over to see that his eyes were unfocused.

The door opened and a nurse came in. She looked at Tony, who immediately lay back on the bed, looking guilty.

"Were you out of bed?" She asked sharply.

"Have you got some spell on the beds so you know when someone gets up?" He asked indignantly.

"Of course we have." She answered sharply.

"I need the bathroom and a new wand and I'm still working a case. So when can I go?" He replied tartly. Adam noticed some colour had reappeared in his cheeks. She moved her wand across his body before turning to the closed door just before it opened and the matron strolled in.

She looked at Adam. "You are a bad influence." Adam raised his hands in mock innocence as she turned to look at Tony.

"Your weak, you need time to recover, however you'll only fret in here. Get your new wand, but try to use simple spells, anything bigger would knock you out."

"Can't keep a good man down Matron." Adam said grinning at Tony, who was rising from the bed again, this time he looked steadier on his feet.

"Don't push your luck Mr Croft." His infectious grin became wider as he stared at the Matron. She grinned back before waving at them and exiting the room.

Adam grabbed Tony as he seemed to in the process of falling over. Lee grabbed him by the other arm.

"Hi Lee, haven't seen you for a while?" Tony said when he saw her.

"Not since you bested me in that duel." She replied ruefully.

"What duel?" Adam asked, surprised at the comment.

"We had a falling out and we duelled." She replied.

"What with, guns?" Adam asked.

"No, wands" Replied Tony, his voice sounded as if Adam should have known this already.

"And he won, knocked me flat on my back and trussed me up. He just left me lying there and walked out." He turned to Tony. "I was on the floor for nearly two hours before someone came in and let me go." She poked him in the chest as she spoke.

Tony looked chagrined for a moment. "You'd just finished your newts." He added.

"Yes, passed them all. I was cocky and I probably deserved what you did. You were good with a wand then and you knew it."

"I didn't take my owls until the following year. I got into trouble after them as well."

"Are you always getting into trouble?" Adam asked partly to stop them continuing the reminiscing.

Tony thought for a moment. "Yes. Even at Durmstang I was in trouble regularly. That's how I ended up being taught by Anatolov, because I spent so much time in detention."

Edlyn had walked across the room and was now standing behind them. "Trouble seems to follow you around." She almost whispered, making them all turn around. Tony's head dropped when she looked at him. "If you're going to see Pinne for a new wand, do you mind if I come with you?"

"Can you answer a question first?" Asked Tony, still not looking at her. She smiled and waited. "Who the hell burnt Arcadius before I got there?" Her head dropped, she seemed suddenly embarrassed. "There was smoke coming from his head."

"Apparently I have a little more Veela in me than I thought." She looked up and surveyed the faces staring at her waiting for her to continue. They all saw the wicked grin appear on her face. "I suppose it's a bit late to ask you all not to tell anyone?"'

"Who the hell needs to know?" Asked Adam. They all nodded.

"Pinne's it is then." Said Tony. "Lee, can you help? I don't think I can get us there at the moment." Lee smiled at him before grabbing them both; a moment later, they were standing in Diagon Alley. There was a gently pop as Edlyn appeared beside them all. Adam reached out and steadied himself on a nearby lamppost.


	17. Chapter 17 Wand Check TAL

They all stood together in Pinne's shop; Tony was now feeling better, the draught given him by St. Mungo's had the desired effect and stopped him feeling as if he would pass out at any moment. Pinne came from out of the back.

"The conquering hero's return." He boomed as he saw them. Tony expected fireworks after what he'd done to everyone's wands at the Ministry.

"How could you know what happened?" Adam asked.

"News travels fast, everyone already knows about Tony's duel with a professor, and the fact he won."

"I heard about all the wands, hope it didn't cause you too many problems," Tony said his head down, waiting for the barrage.

"Whatever you did, didn't affect their wands. I had a very productive day. I charged everyone a silver nickel to put their wands right. I didn't have to do a thing."

"You still charged them?" Asked Adam laughing.

"As I will charge Miss Balsom." He smiled at her. "I have a business to run. Now, what brings you all here?"

Tony said nothing, watching as Adam pulled his wand from his jacket. Pinne's eyebrows went up as he looked at it. He made no attempt to take the wand held out before him. Pinne placed an old cloth on the countertop and pointed for Adam to place the wand on it. Pinne then pulled his own huge wand from his overall pocket and directed it at the broken stick.

"What the hell did you do to this?" He exclaimed frowning at Tony as he waved his own wand over the counter.

"That's what we want you to tell us."

"Never seen the like. What spell were you using at the time?"

"Patronus."

"A shield." His eyebrows went up again as he looked at Tony. "What were you protecting yourself against?" He reached down and pulled an almost invisible hair from the broken end of the wand, walked over to his large workbench and dropped it into a small box.

"Arcadius in some animal form charging at me."

Pinne shook his head. "No, that wouldn't have done this. What other spells were you using?" He asked reaching under the counter and pulled out two grubby wand boxes.

"One or two of my own", he paused trying to think of the right word, "design." Pinne stopped what he was doing and gave Tony a withering look for a moment. As he got to the counter, he took another piece of cloth from under the counter and dropped it over the remains of Tony's wand.

"I'll dispose of that for you." He turned to Edlyn. "Your wand is fine; I'll sort it out for you later." She beamed back at him before apparating out.

"Am I to assume that my wand is beyond repair?" Tony asked resignation in his voice.

"Repair, it should never have been made." Exclaimed Pinne, his voice booming in the small shop.

"Your brother made that."

"I know, bloody troll hair, what was he thinking." He opened the two boxes he had placed on the counter, took a wand from each, and handed one to Tony, a short stubby ugly piece of unsmoothed wood. He held a similar one in his hand as he stepped to the back of his shop and held his wand up.

"Use the same spell on me." He said.

"What, I blew half a field up." Adam moved across the small shop and stood next to the door leading to the alley, his hand on the handle ready.

"Thank you for your vote of confidence," Pinne said giving him a stare that was far from friendly.

"I saw what he did in that field and I want to put some distance between him and me while you two play." Said Adam pulling the door open and he of them moved out into the street, peering back into the shop. Lee was watching for a moment before following him outside.

Pinne looked at Tony, and then both looked outside towards the two standing in the alley. He came from behind his counter and followed them outside, gesturing for Tony to follow. Adam and Lee saw what was happening and backed up along the street until they found a doorway to shelter in. Tony and Pinne watched him in amusement although Pinne was feeling apprehensive.

"Bloody muggle." He said holding his wand up as he stood in the middle of the alley. The few people still shopping had formed a small group and were watching.

"When you're ready Tony."

"It might be very weak, according to the matron, I could pass out."

"Weak is good." He replied. Tony shrugged his shoulders and thought of the spell as he pointed the wand. A loud crack made everyone in the street jump, the windows in the shops and homes seemed to shake for a moment. Pinne looked down at the wand in Tony's hand, which was smoking and now resembled a cocktail umbrella that had been through a hurricane.

"Sorry, Pinne," Tony said from the floor of the alley where he had fallen his legs unable to hold him up. He struggled to his feet and walked over. Suddenly Maldue was standing beside them both. Adam and Lee came from out of the shop doorway and joined them.

"I would suggest that we take further testing of young Mr Garrett's magic to a more secure and less public location." He said taking the misshapen wand from Tony's hand. Pinnes head finally turned from Tony towards Maldue.

"Ancient magic." He took the misshaped wand back from Maldue and walked off back to his shop. "Not dark magic though." He called back over his shoulder before stopping and returning. He reached up and snatched a couple of Tony hairs from his head. Tony yelped, rubbing his head as they watched Pinne walk away. "Come and see me tomorrow, I'll sort you a proper wand out." The shop door closed.

They all turned towards Maldue and waited.

"I would be in agreement with the wandmaker; you have tapped into some ancient form of magic."

"So not dark magic then?" Adam asked feeling a certain amount of relief for Tony as Maldue nodded and grabbed both of their arms. They found themselves in the Ministry of Magic, inside Maldue's office; the armchairs they sat on gave a view out of the window of the atrium below, with a dozen witches and wizards ambling around on errands or business. The rear of his office looked more like Pinnes shop; hundreds of different shaped and coloured bottles lined the many shelves.

Adam tapped Tony's knee and pointed down below them, where he could see Edlyn striding across the marble floor.

"We left your friend Lee behind. Who's the blond girl with Edlyn?" He asked.

Tony looked down and a smile broke out on his face.

"It's Holly Fairweather."

"Holly," Adam exclaimed standing up for a better view. Her normally tied in a bun hair under a hat was now swing free as she walked, her black uniform replaced with a neat form-fitting black suit. Although shorter than Edlyn by some way, she was every bit as attractive.

"Does young Holly have a touch of Veela in her blood?" Adam asked after a moment.

"No, at least I don't think so." He paused for a moment. "I do hope not." He said to himself. "Her family is very much magical. The Fairweather's have been around for centuries, some infamous ones have appeared from time to time."

"Infamous?" Adam asked.

"Remember her mother is lead writer for the Daily Prophet; believe me when I say that makes her infamous."

"Good point, reporters have that honour the world over."

They continued to watch until they were out of sight, on some unknown errand. Adam assumed that it was something to do with the two of them and this case.

The door opened and Maldue entered, his wand was already in his hand.

"Adam, I assume you know how we take your memories?" He shook his head. "Of course you do. Would you mind if I take those from yesterday?"

Without waiting for an answer, his wand touched Adam's head and small pearlescent droplet fell from Adams temple, hanging from the Wand. Maldue already had a small bottle in his other hand ready, the droplet transferred, the bottle sealed. He then did the same to Tony.

"I'll be back." He turned and left as quietly as he arrived.

Maldue reappeared half an hour later and joined them on the sofa's, he still had the little bottles in her hand. The door opened and Botilda strolled in walked over to Maldue and relieved him of the bottles. She smiled at them both and then walked out without saying a word.

"Well young Garrett, seems we have a problem." Obviously not bothered about having the bottled taken.

"What would that be?" Tony asked.

"The magic you used against Arcadius, as I said earlier, it is not so much dark magic as a mix of different types, a little unusual. I have only come across it twice before, the first time in history books. This ancient magic was used extensively by a wizard called Merlin, hundreds of years ago."

"Merlin", Adam exclaimed, "he's real?"

"Not now he isn't." He replied looking at Adam for a moment. His focus went straight back to Tony. "Instances of this type of magic being mixed in this way have cropped up many times over the years, but nothing really serious. The last time it cropped up was in the late nineteen eighties and nineties."

Adam watched the colour drain from Tony's already pale complexion. "I'm in trouble aren't I?"

"No. You understand I am talking of Tom Riddle, he used different types of magic and combined them, history tells us he was bad, but he was one of the greatest wizards of all time, he defeated death itself. What else he did with this magic is another question altogether?" He paused allowing this information to sink in. "You have to understand, the wizards at Durmstrang use dark magic on a daily basis, but they use it for the right reasons, as you have already proven to do." He looked at Tony giving him more time. "Use what you have wisely, but be certain some from the Ministry consider you to be dangerous and will keep a careful eye on you, which might make life very difficult for in your job."

"I have already thought about the plans for my life recently and what you have just told me, I now need to make these decisions happen." Replied Tony, his voice had a resigned air to it.

"Are you going to tell me your plans?"

"No, at least not yet. I may need a helping hand though." Adam looked at him and nodded in agreement before adding. "I'd help, but I don't know how."

"I may need your help; I'll ask if you don't mind."

"I too will do what I can. However, before we finish, I have a question." He paused for a moment. "When you were at Hogwarts, the records stated that you had an eagle as a Patronus, Mr Croft and the pensive say otherwise. Your patronus is a dragon."

Tony felt himself slump down. "My Patronus was an eagle, but it changed."

"To a dragon?" Maldue asked leaning forward.

"No. I change it, depending on what I want my Patronus to do."

"Show me?" Maldew stood up and move to one side.

Tony held his hand out in front of him. "I have no wand." Adam pulled his collection of wands out and held them out to Tony. He took them for a moment before handing them back, keeping Ninian Ferhn's wand.

"This wand is powerful." He said just before he waved it towards the windows overlooking the atrium. A deep blue light spread out from Tony's wand, quickly enlarging until it filled half the room before becoming a huge winged bird, which slipped through the windows and wall as if they didn't exist. The great glowing bird, which seemed to have two sets of wings, one behind the other, swooped out over the atrium, making the people below stop and look up in wonder. The glowing apparition floated across the atrium gracefully, before dissolving on the far side, the walkers below continued on their way as if nothing had happened.

"Good grief." Maldue was the first to speak. "A Phoenix." He looked at Tony. "Never before have I seen a phoenix Patronus, quite beautiful. Just things that can fly?" Tony shook his head. "Keep that to yourself." Maldue's look of wander replaced with a look of concern.


	18. Chapter 18 Argonia! TAL

Chapter 18

Argonia

They left Maldue's office, following the usual way out of the building and then onto the Tube. They alighted at the first station and apparated to Diagon Alley and were ambling up the almost deserted street. Tony stopped and grabbed Adams' arm. "Look up the street." He said pointing at a witch coming out from one of the shops, now looking into the window of the next.

"Do you know her?" Adam asked before he too stopped and looked at the witch who turned towards them and stopped, they could see her eyes widen as her face seemed to pale just before she apparated.

"Was that Argonia Huxley?" Adam asked after a moment as Tony looked at him.

"No, can't be." He said shaking his head. "It looked like her though."

"And she ran the moment she saw us." Tony nodded. "Did she have a sister?" He asked pulling his phone from his pocket.

"No, only child of magical parents. Mother died a couple of years ago, father alive and well, lives in a village called Hogsmead."

"Where did Argonia live?" Adam asked putting his phone away again.

He thought for a moment again. "She has a couple of homes she uses fairly regularly. The last time anyone saw her was in a place called Wootton."

"Isn't that near Bedford?" He looked at him smiling as Tony shrugged. The phone was out again and a few deft movements produced the answer. "Near to the home of one of our dead, Sarah Mitchell. Tony, can you get us to my office?" He said nothing as he grabbed Adams arm and apparated.

They both appeared in Adam's office in Scotland Yard.

"That's going to set alarms off again," Adam said touching the large wall display. "Call Michael Derns."

They heard the call connect.

"Be right with you Adam". Said a disembodied voice. A moment later the door slid open as a tall gangly looking middle-aged man came through the door.

"Hi. I was just down the corridor. How can I help?"

"Michael, do you have access to a drone in the Bedford area?" Adam asked, now it was Tony's turn to be confused again.

"Is this official?" He asked.

"Very much so." Said Adam, as Michael walked to the display wall and touched the panel in the lower corner, which pulled up a menu system. Michael navigated through a series of menus until the display changed to a detailed map view; small red dots were blinking at many places.

"The red dots are drones on patrol around Bedford." Adam had taken his own tablet out and had played with it while they were watching the screen.

"Do you have one close to this address?" He asked showing Michael his display with the address of Sarah Mitchell on it. He tapped out the address and after a moment, he stopped and looked at Adam.

"Sorry Adam, you don't have authority. According to this, your red."

"What does red mean?" Tony asked, feeling left out.

"It means Michael watches too many old movies." Michael grinned.

"Too true, but you're still retired." He looked at Tony, who opened his mouth about to speak. "You need to be a minimum of a DI to move a drone off station."

"DCI Tony Garrett, meet Michael Derns, the drone man." Michael looked at Tony, frowning.

"I know that movie, it's brilliant." Tony chimed in after a moment before grinning at Adam.

While Michael manipulated his tablet and the big display, Adam made a call.

"The first rule of police, double check everything, or at least get someone to double check," Adam said to Tony while he waited for the call to connect. "Normally I would have a team who would automatically double check every detail of the case, we never double checked the dead people."

"Who are dead?" Tony interrupted.

"Who are dead, maybe?" Adam repeated anger in his voice. "Someone is taking the piss out of us." The display in his hand flickered and the face of the forensic medical examiner who they had met for Argonia's autopsy appeared. Tony stood behind him looking over his shoulder at the display.

"Why the hell would Argonia Huxley allow herself to be seen in the one place she is most likely going to be recognised?"

"I have no idea. Doctor, can you tell me what has happened to the bodies of Argonia Huxley, Sarah Mitchell and Robin Allinson?" The doctor frowned for a moment as he turned away and looked at something out of view.

"Huxley's body was released to an authorised person a few days ago, all paperwork is up to date and correct. Mitchell's body was released some time ago and Allinson is still with the coroner. Is there a problem?"

"No, do you know who the authorised people were, who took charge of Huxley's body?"

The man's head dropped down again. "It says the body was released to a Government representative. Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"

"Yes, but it's our problem, not yours, thanks for your time Doctor." Adam ended the call on a confused looking medical examiner.

"So, Huxley's body is with the Ministry then."

The view of Bedford on the display suddenly changed making them both look up. The display showed them falling at great speed towards the ground at speed. Tony backed up in surprise at this. The screen stopped at a major road junction, surrounded by dense housing, in the centre was a small pulsing red dot. The dot moved away from the junction into the housing estate, following the roads until it stopped over one house.

"You have the authority, DCI Garrett. I'm switching to live view." Michael said as the display flickered and the view changed. They were now looking down on suburban gardens through the drone's camera; people were in their gardens, children playing, adults gardening and generally enjoying the hot weather, as Michael used the tablet in his hand to control the drone "That's the address you gave me." He said pointing at the display and a garden with a man mowing the lawn.

"That is Sarah Mitchell's husband. How far away from here is Wootton?" He asked. Michael tapped on the little screen.

"It's about six kilometres from this address."

"Do you have a drone close to this address in Wootton."

The screen changed back to an overhead map view showing red dots. The original drone could be seen moving back to its original location.

"Another red dot pulsed a couple of times; this was near the next major junction just further down the road to the first drone. The dot moved away from the junction and stopped over a large wooded area.

"Why's it stopped there?" Adam asked.

"That's the approximate address you gave me." The display changed back to the drone camera, which was spiralling down toward the trees under Michael's guidance.

"There's a house." Said Tony pointing towards the top of the display where they could see through the tree's canopy a small cottage far from any road. The screen tilted to one side and dropped lower until it was just above the top of the trees.

"Can you take it down lower?" Tony asked his face up close to the huge display.

"No, we're not allowed to take drones inside the tree canopy."

"Why not?" Tony asked looking away from the display.

"Clip a branch and you could lose the drone and they cost over fifty thousand each."

They watched as Michael guided the drone around the area, showing the house from different angles through the trees. Between the leaves, they could see a well-trodden footpath leading back to the main road and a metalled pathway running alongside the house.

"Tony, can you find this place?" He asked, hoping he wouldn't ask any questions in front of Michael.

"Close enough, we may need to walk a bit."

The screen flashed bright white, a warning alarm sounded and a large sign in red appeared on the display, 'Drone Down' was all it said.

"What the fuck." They both looked at Michael, who had a very shocked look on his face, his phone still held out in front of him. "I saw someone on the footpath, then, gone." He exclaimed.

"What happens now?" Asked Tony as Michael looked at him as he cancelled the alarm.

"I send a squad out to the site and retrieve the drone before anyone else gets hold of it." He shrugged off his shock and started to tap on the display. "Done, a team are on route."

"Tony, we need to get there quick before this pick-up team gets there, they could be in danger." He nodded and looked back at Michael.

"You won't get there quicker than the team, their main base is on the north side of London."

"Wanna bet," Adam said heading towards the door. "Thank you, Michael, You have been a great help as usual, sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused you." He continued as he left the room, with Tony right behind him. They rushed along the corridor, ignoring the plaintive cries from an upset Michael Dern. The lift doors automatically opened as they arrived, allowing them to walk straight in.

"Ground floor," Adam said to the lift, allowing the doors to close. He looked over at Tony, who hand was already on his arm. The exit, seen by the watcher who triggered no alarms and sent no reports, opened the doors to a confused Michael, as he looked into the empty lift.

Adam and Tony were standing in a field surrounded by trees. In the distance, they could hear the whine of electric motors and the steady drone of tyres on concrete, signalling they were near to the main road. Adam already had his tablet out with the map app open, showing the route through the trees. The pathway they were following was a little overgrown and only used by dog walkers, they travelled along it until they came to the metalled path, the edges well-kept, the bushes on either side cut back allowing them to see the house a few hundred meters away. Before they reached it they came across a huge patch of leaves, still green, piled across the path. Tony pointed at the bushes. Partially hidden were the sleek white lines of the police drone. Tony was shocked to find it was a big as him and not some small shoebox-sized thing. He could see the blue and red light cases and the cameras mounted underneath. Adam walked over and pulled it forward until it toppled over onto its belly. A quick glance showed it was dead, but he could find no discernible damage. He slipped his phone out and passed their location back to the yard, so they could guide his team directly to the machine before they carried onto the house. Tony ran ahead, stopping at the gate, already out of breath. Adam signalled for him to go around the back while he went towards the front door. The house was quite normal, the rooftop had the ubiquitous weather worn redundant satellite dish perched on one side of the chimney, the garden was carefully tended, the grass brown, due to the long hot summer. Nothing looked out of place as Adam watched Tony vault the small fence and disappear around the back of the property.

Adam pushed the gate open and walked up the concrete path and knocked on the door which opened, obviously not locked. He stepped inside, pulling his gun from its shoulder holster while calling out.

"Armed police," he yelled loudly into the house, "is there anyone at home; please make yourself known, now." He listened to the silence, interspace with the calls of crows from above him in the trees. He took another pace inside when a hand landed on his shoulder. He felt as if his feet had left the floor for a moment as he looked around into the smiling face of Tony.

"Bastard." He exclaimed into Tony's smiling face, feeling his heart hammer in his chest as he slipped the gun away.

"House is empty."

Adam walked into the main living area, bright, clean and modern, a wall-sized television screen dominating the room. Modern furniture filled the rest of the room. He continued forward into a large kitchen, just as modern as the living room, modern appliances, clean but obviously well used. He placed his hand on the kettle, feeling the heat from it.

"Someone's been here recently." He said wandering around the kitchen opening doors, finding them just like any normal kitchen, full of bags, packets and bottles, all with recognisable brand names on them. "Would a wizard or witch go shopping in a major supermarket?" He asked of Tony.

"Depends on the background, but considering what we know about Argonia, I suspect not."

"So this is not her house, what I want to know, is whose house this is." He slipped the phone out again and started his usual interrogation. Tony had taken his wand out and was waving it around the room before going back into the lounge.

"Someone has apparated out of the living room, recently." He called back, heading up the staircase to the first floor.

A few minutes later, he came back down the stairs, finding Adam still in the kitchen.

"Rooms upstairs have mainly full wardrobes. Looks like a typical family house, two children by the looks of the photos, however, I can find no magical items, which I would expect any wizarding family to have."

"Muggles". Tony nodded. "The owners are on holiday, not due back until the weekend." Tony opened his mouth as Adam pointed at a small noticeboard, in the middle was a small monthly calendar with lots of names on different dates, probably birthdays, one large scribble note read 'holiday' ringed in red ink with arrows pointing upwards and downwards. "Are you sure Argonia's been here?"

"As sure as I can be."

"Why?"

"Sometimes wizards will use muggles homes for a few days while the family are away." Adam stared at him, disbelief on his face. "The owner would never know, but it's a good way of keeping yourself hidden."

"Next question."

Tony interrupted. "Why is she hiding and more importantly why would she show her face on Diagon Alley? It's as if she wants to be caught?"

"Unless she thought she was safe, until an hour ago we thought she was dead."

Silence descended as they thought, Adam again using his tablet as Tony opened the door of the large fridge.

"Look what I've found". Adams head came around and looked over his shoulder. Tony was pointing at a bottle of beer.

"I don't like the idea of stealing someone's beer," Adam said turning away. Tony pulled the bottle out and placed in on the countertop in front of Adam.

"Look at it carefully." Adam picked the bottle up and read the label.

"Dragons Breath. Not the best name for a beer is it." He chuckled putting the bottle down.

"I thought you were observant." Adam gave him a withering look and picked the bottle back up.

"Brewed for the Canu Cochran in North Wales. I know that pub." Exclaimed Adam.

"What?" Tony looked surprised.

"It's my local. It's about a ten-minute walk to the pub and thirty to walk back." Tony gave him a strange look. "The pub is in Dyffryn Cudd, which is downhill from my house, but it's uphill on the way back and depending on how much you've drunk and eaten. "Adam left it as he saw Tony smile. Adam turned and put the bottle back on the fridge.

"You do know that the Coch is a Wizarding pub?" Adam's mouth opened and closed. "The family in this house wouldn't have brought that beer."

"Depends, the Coch's a hikers pub and I use it all the time when I'm home. They could have brought one back from a holiday." Tony shook his head.

"It's your local and you didn't recognise the name of that beer." It was Adams turn to look confused as Tony held his hand out. "Time for a drink I think."

"Let me secure the house first, the last thing we need is the place to get robbed because the front door is still open and it's our fault."


	19. Chapter 19 Canu Cochran TAL

Chapter 19

Canu Cochran

The house disappeared, only to be replaced a moment later by another set of trees. Tony led the way around the edge of the small copse, in front of them stood a large pub with many wooden benches outside, and filled with many people dressed for walking and hiking, rucksacks lay piled next to each table, enjoying the summer sun. An old weather-worn sign stated 'The Canu Cochran'. The pub was nestled between two huge oak trees, surrounded on all side by large hills, all with paths meandering up them. A small river bubbled past with an old warped wooden bridge leading to the large entrance door; somehow, it reminded Adam of Torkel. They walked over the little bridge, hearing it creak for a moment before entering the gloom of the pub. Inside it was neat, clean and full. A general mumbling came from every direction, especially the bar, mobbed by a number of people waiting to be served.  
"Busy place," Tony said looking around smiling to himself.  
"It's like this all summer. Good food and beer."  
"Haf." They both called out together when a young blond woman carrying a tray full of food came out of a side door. They both looked at each other for a moment.  
"Hello, Adam." Came a happy welsh voice. She stopped and stared at Tony, a frown clouding her appearance. She walked off and delivered the plates of food to a table near the window.  
"Anyone body else waiting for food." She bellowed across the pub. She waited. "Anybody else want to buy food." A general good-natured banter came from the crowd. "I said food." She bellowed, which brought louder laughter. She turned back across the room towards Adam.  
"Adam, good to see you, where's Gwen?" She spoke, smiling, casting unfriendly glances at Tony with her steel-grey eyes.  
"She's in Africa." He stopped, realising what he just said.  
"What the hell is she doing in Africa and why aren't you with her?"  
"She's on holiday and I'm here on business."  
"What would a London policeman want here in darkest Wales?"  
"We're looking for a woman called Argonia Huxley, Haf." Tony answered. A look of alarm crossed her face.  
"Do I know you?" She asked giving Tony a very unfriendly look.  
"How the hell could Half Price forget me?" She blinked several times before they grew large.  
"What the hell are you doing here?" She asked, her voice rose, sounding quite panicky. "Alwyn, I'm going to take a break." She bellowed across the bar, several people ducking as she did so.  
"I don't remember you having a voice like that at school." Said Tony grinning.  
Adams' head swivelled back and forth. "You two went to the same school?" He asked incredulously. It was Haf's turn to twitch between the two of them.  
"It's all right Haf, he's a friend." Said Tony seeing the look on her face.  
She looked at Adam and then pointed to the door leading into the kitchen. "I know he's a friend, it's you I don't know. You'd better come through to the back." She turned and walked through the doorway, with the two in tow, through the industrial kitchen, two white dressed chefs smiled as she passed, Adam stopped and looked at them, sensing something was wrong.  
"Ignore it, Adam," Tony whispered in his ear.  
Through another door, they found themselves in another large room, tables and chair set into groups. Adam knew this was the evening dining room and had had many meals here with Gwen.  
They all sat down at the first table. Haf looked about to talk but kept looking between the two of them.  
"Haf, are you a witch?" Asked Adam. Her eyes grew large. She looked at Tony, who was smirking, before pointing her finger at Adam.  
"Yes, he knows," Tony whispered.  
She seemed to relax. "What do you know?" She asked, her accent stranger than usual.  
"Gwen is currently a guest of the AMC. Tony and I are working on a Ministry case." Her eyes had grown wider again.  
"What's an AMC?" She asked looking confused.  
"The African Magical Congress." Tony piped in.  
"Where did you disappear to at the end of your exams?" She asked of Tony.  
"Durmstrang."  
"Why?"  
"Edlyn Balsom." He replied dryly.  
She thought for a moment. "I remember now. You were a bloody fool, but she was a bitch."  
"She's part Veela." Exclaimed Tony.  
A big grin appeared on her face. "That explains a hell of a lot."  
Another door opened and a man large man came through carrying some dirty plates.  
"Everything all right Haf. Hello Adam, how are you?"  
"Hello, Alwyn. Everything is fine."  
"He knows all about me and Mar." Said Haf to her father. "And he's an Auror." A guarded look came over the man's face.  
Alwyn walked over, brought his head down to Tony's height and looked into his eyes. "And he is bloody barred."  
"What? Why the hell am I barred?" Tony protested disbelief in his voice.  
"You and your friends from that bloody school turned up here one night, pissed, you all apparated into the middle of a bar full of drinkers." They all turned to look at him, his face going crimson.  
"I don't remember." He whispered.  
"I'm not surprised; you were on some bloody pub crawl."  
"It was the monthly app crawl."  
"What the hell is an app crawl?" Asked Adam.  
"It's like a pub crawl only we apparate between pubs. OK at first, but the more you drink, the more difficult it gets."  
"Do you know about this?" Adam asked of Haf. She shook her head.  
"It's a Durmstrang thing." They all stared at him, waiting for an explanation. "We used to catch a sleigh from the school to Likkligdal, couple of drinks in Torkel, then apparate to the Cauldron, followed by the Pair Dadeni, that's in Ireland, then here, then the Three Brooms in Hogsmead before heading back to Torkel for a last drink, then catch the last sleigh back to the school."  
Alwyn leaned across the table again and stared into Tony's face. "My wife was away with her friends for the night, Haf was in school and I'm not a wizard and you lot turned up." His eyes didn't leave Tony's. "It's a bloody good job a wizarding family were eating a meal here, they cleaned the mess up, including the pictures and films the muggles were taking of you all."  
Tony had his head in his hands, his face still red. "I don't remember, but I really am sorry." He looked up at them all, finding Haf, trying to hide a grin, Adam shaking his head and Alwyn still giving him the same glare.  
"Did everyone do this app crawl?" Adam asked, knowing that Alwyn was like a dog with a bone when he didn't like something.  
Tony shook his head. "You had to be good at apparition, or you wouldn't have made it to the first pub."  
Adam turned back to Alwyn and Haf. "We're looking for someone."  
"Yes, Argonia Huxley," Tony added relieved Alwyn was no longer staring at him.  
"Why would we know anything about this person?" Asked Haf still grinning at Tony's discomfort.  
"We found a bottle of Dragons Breath near where she was hiding."  
"Nowt to do with us." She replied. Tony pulled the bottle from his pocket, that Adam hadn't seen him take, plonking it on the table.  
"I told you that stuff would get us into trouble." Said Alwyn stepping back.  
"Yes it is," replied Adam loudly. "How many times have I been here and I've never tried this." He gestured at the bottle.  
"If you'd told me who you were, we'd have given you a bottle or two, but we don't serve it to muggles. Wait until I have a word with Gwen, she never told me she was a witch. I should have bloody guessed." She added under her breath.  
"Haf, neither Gwen nor I are part of your world, were muggles." He could see the confusion in her eyes.  
"I disagree with you there Adam, from what we've found out recently, you've been part of our world for many years, you just don't remember it."  
Adam nodded. "Gwen was hurt by a hex and ended up in St Mungo's." Haf eyes had grown large again. "We were kidnapped by the Matron of St Mungo's and her boyfriend who is a minister in the AMC. She was caught up in the problems we are investigating and ended up as a guest who in my mind, is enjoying far too much."  
Haf blinked a couple of times, looked up at her father before looking back at Adam. "She's alright though?" She asked, worry in her voice.  
"She's fine; she'll be back for the new term."  
"I'll leave you to it Haf, this has nothing to do with me." Alwyn turned and walked away.  
"Coward." She yelled back.  
"Oh yes." Came the reply as he passed through the door.  
She looked back at the two confused men.  
"Dar's a muggle."  
"And he married a witch?" Asked Adam surprised.  
"You don't think he actually had any choice in the matter, do you. You see, Mar has a liking for muggle men. Her first husband was a muggle as well, he was my real father, but he died in a car crash when I was about a year old. Alwyn adopted me."  
"I had no idea. Did you know Gwen was adopted as well?" Said Adam, Tony looked at Adam in surprise at this news.  
"Yes, that's why we got on so well. While we're still discussing stupidity from Tony." His head snapped up, mouth open. "My first day ever at Hogwarts." She looked towards Adam. "They call you up one at a time and they sort you into houses." Both of them nodded. "My name was called out, that was the first time it had occurred to me that my name sounded like half price because that's how the professor pronounced it. The entire school burst out laughing and one blond pratt fell off his bench he laughed so much." She glared at Tony.  
"Am I to assume that it was Tony who fell off his chair?" Asked Adam. She nodded and gave Tony another glare.  
"From that day forward, he always pointed it out, every time he passed me."  
"Look, I was a pratt in school." He replied.  
"And you spent most of your time in detention at that other school?" Adam added as Tony nodded.  
"How many times where you almost expelled from Hogwarts?" Asked Haf. Tony didn't reply, looking down yet again. "We do know Argonia, well, Mar went to Hogwarts with her and we used to holiday with her when I was a child before Mar met Dar here." Said Haf explaining.  
"Have you seen Argonia recently?" Ask Adam getting back to the point.  
"About a week ago, she came in picked up a few things we sell to witches and wizards. She didn't say much, said she was going away and was in a hurry. Nothing usual about that."  
"What did Argonia do for a living?"  
"She works for the Ministry in London, I think."  
"This place you used to go to on holiday, is it near here?"  
"Argonia's house. It's on the coast about thirty kilometres from here, sits on a piece of headland North side of Anglesea. It's very difficult to find for one of us, impossible for a muggle."  
"Can you show us on a map, if you have a map that is?" Asked Tony as Adam took his phone out.  
"This is a hikers rest, of course, we have maps, people still use maps you know." She was about to stand up when Adam slid his phone across the table, the map of North Anglesea already displayed. She looked surprised.  
"I can't touch it, I'll break it."  
Tony pulled his own phone out and placed it on the table. "No, you won't."  
"Scotland Yard." She exclaimed looking at the logo on his phone.  
"Yes," said Adam, "we're working on a case that involves muggles and wizards, or witches."  
"Must be big?" She asked.  
"You have no idea," Tony said shaking his head. She leaned forward. "And I'm not telling you anymore; this is police and Ministry business." She touched Adam's phone, smiling when the screen went blank.  
"Told you." The screen flicked back on.  
"Just point, the screen blank is just a security device." She pointed at a small nondescript headland far from any roads or paths.  
"Have any other wizards or witches passed by recently?" Asked Adam.  
"There are several families living around here. There's two families in Llandudno and several more on Anglesea, most of them pass through here from time to time."  
"Why would they come here?" Adam asked.  
"I have a small shop in the basement. I get stuff from the…" She stopped and looked at Tony.  
"I'll take a guess that you go to the Moon Market?" Adam said watching her eyes give her away. "We were there the other night, by accident I might add."  
"Has Professor Darnell ever been here?" Asked Tony.  
"Arcadius, yes, he has a house in the mountains. I get him his supplies before term starts. Sometimes I send parcels up to the school, difficult to find items." She added they both nodded for different reasons.  
"What can you tell us about Argonia?" Adam asked.  
"She's always been good to me and Mar. She travels a lot, brings back the strangest of items."  
"Where does she travel to?"  
"No idea." She shook her head.  
"No mention of which countries she might visit?"  
"No idea."  
Tony stood up then leaned down and spoke into Adams' ear. "I'll go ahead and find out where this place is. I'll come back in a few minutes." He stood smiled at Haf. "I'll come to see you again soon, but I need to do something that can't wait." He apparated out.  
"What the hell are you doing with an Auror?" She asked, almost whispering the moment he was out of sight.  
"We're working together on a case, as I said earlier."  
"I thought you were retiring, that's why Gwen went down to London for a couple of days?"  
"Retirement was put on hold because of this case. The Ministry requested I work on it."  
"The Ministry of Magic?" He nodded. "You've been in the Ministry?" Again, he nodded. "I've never been inside."  
"Why not?"  
"I came to work here when I left Hogwarts."  
"Don't you find it difficult hiding your magic?"  
"Hiding it, I never stop using it; this place wouldn't run without it." She grinned at him.  
"How come I never noticed?"  
"That's the magic," she smiled at him, "keeping the place open to both sides without the muggles finding out is almost a full-time job."  
"There's something odd about your two chef's?"  
"Do you know what a house-elf is?" He nodded. "Both the chefs are house-elves with a little magic to make them look like muggles. I can't believe you can see it."  
"Tony's put some spells on me, allows me to see what you are hiding. When was the last time you saw Professor Darnell?"  
She thought for a moment. "I think he came in yesterday or the day before. Mar looked after him. I remember he didn't look well."  
"Did you or your mother send anything up to the school?"  
"No, at least I don't think so. We take stuff to his house up in the hills. We only send stuff to the school during term time."  
"What can you tell me about his house?"  
"Strange place. If I deliver stuff, I leave it outside the gates, I've never been inside. I always found him and his house a little creepy."  
"Did he teach you at Hogwarts?"  
"Yes, not my favourite lesson. It amazing how someone can take the enjoyment out of something so good."  
"He's an odd character."  
"You have no idea what he can do." She replied.  
"Yes I can, myself and Tony have seen it first hand and not in a good way."  
"Tony popped back beside them both, stopping the conversation. He nodded at Adam before gesturing for him follow.  
"We have to go Haf, I'll come and see you when this is all over." Adam stood while speaking, followed by Haf, who came forward and gave him a hug. "  
"It'll be great talking to Gwen without having to watch what we're saying and hiding things."  
They left the pub, following a few hikers that had eaten and were about to continue with their walks.

The windswept sun-drenched sea appeared before them. Although it was still hot, the spot Tony had brought them was exposed to the strong sea breeze, which almost knocked them off their feet. All Adam could see was a large hill, grass and sheep, but little else. Tony gestured towards the top of the hill to one side and they slogged up the steep incline.  
As they cleared the top, Tony gestured for them to stop, he was out of breath as usual, while Adam was fine. They looked down across a green sloping meadow, broken by exposed rocks, gorse bushes, sheep and patches of long grass, but no cover. The noise of gulls and ravens seem loud to them as they wheeled overhead, upset by the new intruders. On a small headland, around ten meters above the sea stood a strange small cottage, looking as if it was built between the hulls of two upturned boats. Between them and the house was a small bridge, linking the island and its house to the headland  
"This is the back of the house; the rest is on the other side facing out to sea," Tony said as he started to breathe properly.  
"How come nobody ever sees this?" Adam asked.  
"Magic, remember you can now see what is normally hidden. You see where the bridge starts," Adam nodded. "I would guess most people who come this way would see nothing of the bridge and house. I suspect they see a cliff edge dropping to the sea, so never walk any further."  
"How are we going to get to the cottage without being seen?" Adam asked looking at the open landscape.  
"Getting their unseen isn't the problem, it's what type of traps have been laid I'm more worried about."  
"How would they know we're even here?"  
"Maybe Haf sent a message; she is a friend of Huxley."  
"She'd have to be bloody quick."  
"Her father perhaps?"  
"Good point, but he's a muggle."  
They scanned the area for a moment, looking for a route down with some sort of cover, but it obviously not going to happen.  
"I'll apparate down to the building next to the doorway," Tony said. "I'll give you a signal if it's safe."  
"You need to take us both down there, and you don't have a wand," Adam replied pulling the collection out of his pocket.  
Tony looked at him. "You know, I don't feel the need."  
"And if Arcadius is down there, what then?"  
He paused for a moment, looking at the wands. "Good point." He took Ninian Ferhe's wand, the one he had used successfully before, back at the Ministry.  
He put his hand on Adams arm, who nodded and they were suddenly standing to the rear of the strange half boat half cottage.

They walked off in different directions, heading around to the rear of the building. As they passed the end of the house, they could see each other across a small slabbed area covered by yet another boat hull, this one acting as a roof over a small decked area. This bordered the drop to the sea below, just over an old worn fence rail. Every few seconds there was a loud thump as a wave hit the rocks below.  
On the decked area on a small bench, sat a lone figure, slumped down looking out to sea. Adam recognised her and for a moment, he thought she was asleep or worse, surprised when she looked at him.  
"I don't who you are but this is private land."  
"Good afternoon Argonia."  
"You seem to have the better of me. I know your friend was an Auror, but you."  
"I'm a police officer."  
"You must be the muggle I was warned about."  
"Probably. Until earlier today we thought you were dead?" Adam came around the corner, glancing over the wooden rail down to the wave's crashing against the rocks below.  
"You were supposed to." She replied forlornly.  
"Beautiful place to live." She nodded as he walked over to her and sat down on the bench. "We muggles dig and dig when we find something isn't right and nothing about your reported death was right. Why were you pretending to be dead, and whose body was it we found?" As he spoke, he watched Tony move from the end of the house and dropped behind a large rainwater barrel.  
"It wasn't my idea." To Adam, she looked and sounded like she who had given up, her body language was that of someone broken. "When I saw you two look at me in Diagon Alley, I knew it was over. Once an Auror get on your trail, there's little chance of escaping in the long run. I have to admit I am surprised how quickly you got here. I thought I'd have days."  
"I think you overestimate Auror's to a degree." He kept his voice at a conversation level. "If you thought you had days, where were you going to run to? You can still apparate?"  
She looked back at him again. "You know a lot, don't you?" He said nothing, waiting for her to continue. "Apparition is not one of my stronger abilities, but I wasn't going to run, I'm sick of running, sick of hiding. Sick of being scared, abused and violated." There was bitterness in her voice as she looked at him; he could see it in her eyes, and the misery in the lines on her face.  
"Are you going to explain Argonia?" He asked softly.  
"No. Your friend, the Auror, hiding behind the barrel will come over here shortly and take my memories." She reached into her shirt pocket and pulled a small phial out, handing it to Adam. "Don't think badly of me and my kind."  
He took the phial, looking down at the small insignificant little bottle. Suddenly Argonia leapt up and ran towards the wooden fence, diving head first over it. Adam had tried to grab her, but she had moved too suddenly for him. There was a muffled scream just as her body disappeared over the edge. A moment later, her unconscious body reappeared floating over the old wooden rail. Tony using the wand directed her body onto the ground gently.  
"I didn't expect her to jump," Adam said as Tony stood beside him.  
"I think it was a ploy to make us think she was dead, again." He touched the wand against her temple and the usual pearlescent drop came away. He allowed it to drop into the small phial he had taken from his pocket. "We'll see how these two memories match."  
"I keep thinking like a muggle, I forget about your abilities," Adam said, annoyed with himself. Tony raised the wand into the air and muttered under his breath. Adam jumped as a loud crack rattled off the building. Lee was now standing beside him, dressed all in black as usual.  
"You wanted me?" She asked, smiling at Adam.  
"Can you take Argonia here to Azkeban?" Tony said gesturing at the prone woman at his feet.  
"Make sure she goes into the hospital, not some cell, I suspect she needs help." Interjected Adam  
She nodded back. "Anything else?"  
"Not at the moment, I'll call if I need back up," Tony said slipping the wand away in his jacket pocket.  
"Lee, tell Maldue we could be heading into the bears' den and if we call, we will need heavy back up." Tony nodded in agreement at Adam's request.  
"Are you sure you don't want me to come straight back?" She asked, worry in her voice.  
"No, just be prepared to be the cavalry."  
Adam could see the look of confusion on her face just before she apparated. 


	20. Chapter 20 The Manor House that isn

Chapter 20

The Manor House that isn't.

They found themselves back at the hilltop beside the small copse, looking down at the Canu Cochran, people were still enjoying the sun and the beer. Other walkers were heading away or arriving from many directions.

"Why are we back here?" Adam asked.

"I want to check if Haf or her father let Argonia know we were coming, plus I need Haf to show me where Darnell's house is." Tony headed off across the short walk down towards the little bridge, Adam in tow for once.

Haf gave them the location of the house and made them know in no uncertain terms she or her father had warned Argonia they were coming. Tony took them to the place shown on the map. Adam could no longer feel the act of apparition he was so used to it.

"Surprise me." Asked Adam looking around the hilltop they were standing on. Green grass inter-spaced with grey-white rocks stretched away in all directions, a small river trickled past as they surveyed the surrounding hills. Tony rotated on the spot trying to take everything in at the same time. Adam held his phone up; the display was showing the spot they were standing in was the spot shown by Haf.

"She must have been mistaken," Tony said after a moment.

"No, she said she delivers to his house."

"I thought she delivered to Hogwarts?"

"She told me while you checked out Argonia's house. Could it be some extension thingy?"

"It could be hidden in an extension or any of a dozen different spells. It depends upon how good the wizard is, and Arcadius is a superb wizard."

Adam turned to look at the younger man. "I saw you and him battling and I thought you were better, but I'm no expert."

"I think I was lucky. You don't get to be a professor at Hogwarts and stay there for over twenty-five years without being a bloody good wizard."

"Why do you think you were lucky?" He asked still staring at him.

"I may have power, but knowledge of a range of spells only comes with experience. Arcadius was arrogant that and power is the only reason I beat him." Unnerved by the intensity of Adam's stare, he turned around again, surveying the area. "If I was to face him a second time, I'm not sure I could beat him because he would be ready for me."

"Is that why you spent so much time reading those books on Matilda?" He nodded and smiled glumly.

Adam pointed into the distance. "Look at the grass just before the ground rises." Tony looked into the distance, then back at Adam. "The ground seems discoloured" He looked again, just before a bright smile broke out on his face.

"Your powers of observation are brilliant." He said raising the wand pointing into the distance. A moment later, a small white star flashed out from the end. The little star gained a tail as it slowly arched upwards before dropping downwards towards the spot Adam had seen. There was a light flicker in the very air around them as the little star hit something. For a moment nothing happened, then they could see a milky radiance spread out from the spot where the star disappeared.

"I think we may have found Arcadius's house," Tony said pointing the wand again. This time a clap of thunder and a huge bright flash came from the wand, hitting the remains of the milky radiance with a huge gout of whiteness, the sound of thunder, felt through the ground, echoing loudly of the surrounding hills, which must have been heard for miles around. In front of them stood a large Tudor manor house, white painted with dark wooden beams and an ornate roofline, covered with grey slate tiles. At the front were manicured gardens, fruit trees and clipped bushes behind a brick wall. The wall, broken only by a wrought-iron gate, and a slabbed pathway leading to the door of the house.

"Good grief Arcadius lives well. That house looks totally out of place." Adam said after a moment. "Do you think they know we're here?" He continued, feeling quite unnerved by Tony's latest show of force.

"I want them to know, I'm hoping to frighten them a little. Hopefully, it should give me a much-needed edge." He was looking at his wand, a perplexed look on his face.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"This bloody wand seems to amplify everything I want it to do. It seems to be much stronger than my old one."

"That's good, right?"

Tony shrugged. "I don't know, but I like it." He walked forward, but Adam held his arm, stopping him.

"Is it my imagination or does this whole house look wrong?" Tony had stopped, knowing Adams observation skills seemed to miss nothing.

"What can you see?" He asked moving back to stand by Adams side.

"The angle of the walls look slightly out, the roofline looks wrong, but I can't tell what it is." Adam looked away from the house for a moment, then looked back. "There it is. The building changes slightly when I look away. Is that building some sort of mirage?"

Tony did the looking away thing a couple of times and realised he could see the problem. He looked at Adam and shook his head.

"You should be a wizard, Adam, you're wasted as a muggle." He lifted the wand and a pencil this bright green laser light spat from the end, hitting the house. A loud cracking sound echoed from the hill as, what looked like a huge pane of glass shattered into many pieces, falling noisily to the floor. The manor house, the wall and its gardens were gone, in its place stood a small brick and wood one-roomed shack, It looked more like an old crofter cottage, made from the local stone, disused and ready to fall down at any moment. Both stood in silence looking at the little hut.

"Well, Mr Wizard?" Adam asked looking at the confused man. He shrugged his shoulders and marched off across the open field, with Adam bringing up the rear, constantly surveying the area around and behind them, expecting some sort of attack. "Do you think this is safe?"

"I have no idea at the moment."

As they arrived at the old building, Tony tapped at the warped old planked door gently. Adam pushed passed and placed his foot against the door and shoved. The door creaked alarmingly as it bowed inwards, before freeing itself, smashing against the wall behind it. The room, around three meters square and swept bare save for a small dolls house in the sitting on the floor. The doll's house was a replica of the manor house they had just uncovered and then destroyed.

"Well then, extension spell perhaps?" Adam asked, feeling more than a little unnerved as he bent over and looked at the house.

"It's not an extension, I think it's a port key." Tony looked over at Adam and found him staring at him. "A port key is a little like apparition, touch it and you are transported to a particular spot."

"What's the point, why not just apparate, all this cloak and dagger stuff is a little odd? Also, that door hasn't been opened in a long time."

"The door has probably never been used. All the owner has to do is apparate to this room and the port key takes you the rest of the way."

"So the manor house you seem to have destroyed is for what?"

"Distraction. The port key will take us to only one location, designed by whoever made it and could lead anywhere in the world."

"Let's go." Adam stepped forward and looked down at the little house. "How does it work?"

"Hold on, this could be a trap," Tony said grabbing Adam's arm as he reached out.

"Of course it's a trap."

"We could end up in a cell with the enemy waiting all around us." Adam gave him a shrewd look, then pulled the gun from its holster, flicking the power button as he did. He then crouched down in front of the house, gun out in front of him.

"Loaded for bear, ready?" Tony nodded, readied the wand and crouched the same way Adam did, realising that Adam was showing the smallest body area to anyone they would meet, also they both looked away from each other.

"You're a lunatic. By the way, you might not like this too much." Tony held out his right hand and Adam his left, together they touched the little house.


	21. Chapter 21 A trip to the AMC TAL

Chapter 21

A trip to the AMC

Adam felt the ground pull away as he spun upwards into the air; an involuntary scream of utter panic escaped his mouth as he watched the world spin below him. Then they were flying through clouds that were whistling past at speed and just as Adam started to enjoy the feeling until they dropped at an even greater speed. They could see the ground coming towards them way too fast. Adam readied himself for another terror-riddled scream as they touched down on the ground, Adam still crouched tilted to the left hitting the ground on his side, groaning.

"Wow, what a rush," Tony exclaimed.

Adam sat on the dusty road, squinting upwards into the dazzling and hot sun. "You going to tell me you've never done that before?"

"Never." He replied helping a shaky Adam to his feet, helping the brush off the red dust that clung to his trousers and jacket.

"Bloody hell it's hot, where the hell are we?" Tony went to speak but Adam continued. "I will never do that again in my life, understand." Tony nodded, realising that Adam was grey and shaken. "That and that bloody fire thing."

They looked around looking at the few shaped trees and clumps of tall grass that dotted the dry dusty landscape, completely alien to the green and pleasant welsh countryside they had just left. In the distance through the heat haze, Adam pointed to a herd of animals, which looked like Giraffes, but obviously were not.

"Before you ask," Tony said, pre-empting Adam's questions. "I do not know what the hell they are or where we are."

Adam took his light jacket off, slipped the gun back into his holster, which was now on display. Then both of their phones beeped urgently. Tony looked blankly at the plastic tablet. Adam held his phone up him to see, it displayed the same message, 'Location Unknown'.

"Tony, are we actually on Earth?"

"Yes." He said with certainty. "I think so". He added a little unsure.

"These give you your location anywhere on the planet, no exceptions." He shook he head. "They use satellites and it can't find a single satellite signal. What the fuck is going on?" This was the first time he had heard the worry in Adam's voice.

"Don't get angry at me," Tony said holding his hands up, palms forward.

"I'm not angry yet; I working up through worry, heading into panic, anger will come later."

"You rely on technology far too much." Adam's mouth dropped open in surprise. "In the same way, we rely on our magic too much."

Adam stared at him, raised his hand and pointed a finger at him. "Yes. Still doesn't tell us where we hell we are though, does it?"

"No." Adams' head tilted to one side and his eyes grew wider. "We might be in an extension."

"You told me the doll's house wasn't an extension and I can see a mountain range over there." He pointed off into the distance, and through the haze, there were mountains, huge mountains, snow-topped mountains. Tony pointed in the opposite direction and in the distance, they could see smoke rising upwards, taken across the sky by the light wind that did nothing to reduce the temperature.

"The doll's house was a port key which has brought us here." He paused for a moment as Adam caught up. "I'm going to take a guess and say that is a village of some sort."

Adam looked at the smoke and gave him another quizzical look. "Lead on."

Tony ignored the attempt at humour and set off at a brisk pace along the dusty track. Adam grinned at him and followed.

Tony's brown jacket was over his shoulder, sweat marks covered his normally neat T-shirt and his pace has slowed considerably. He came to a stumbling halt again as he slipped on a rut in the pathway, twisting his ankle.

"Tony, why can't you apparate to this village?"

He looked at Adam, a deep frown across his brow. "I can't apparate here, something is stopping me." He snapped. Adam pointed along the path, showing they should go on.

"I need a break; we've been walking for hours." He complained.

"We've been walking for twenty minutes," Adam replied exasperated.

"We've walked miles."

"We've walked a mile."

"Don't you get tired?"

"No, I'm bloody fit, now move." He said angrily, pushing Tony in the back. He staggered on, unhappy, hot and sweaty, something he was not at all used too.

The sun seemed to grow hotter, the strange beast that flew overhead, seemed to grow stranger every time he saw one. He grabbed Tony's arm and pointed at a huge dark outline slowly flapping its way across the sky.

"Dragon, no idea of the type." He replied, holding his wand up to his mouth, a jet of water flowed from the end into his mouth. He pointed it at Adam when he saw him watching open-mouthed. "I don't have a cup." Adam held out his hands forming a cup as Tony filled it with cool water, which he used to wash his face and neck first, and then drink.

"How much further do you think the village is?" Tony asked shielding his eyes with his hands, squinting off into the distance.

"Not far now." Said a well-educated British accented voice, both span around at the voice that had come from behind them. They stood opened mouth at a very tall skinny black man standing before them. He was wearing a bright red sheet over one shoulder, which came down to his bare knees. His feet were bare and hard, his head bald and shiny. In his hand was a long narrow spear, a bow and arrows and a small brown animal skinned shield with a design painted onto it in white.

Adam was the first to recover. "Good afternoon." This produced a huge smile and a hand held out.

As they shook hands, the man spoke. "My name is Talib." As he shook hands, the necklace around his neck clinked, making Adam look down and the row of huge long white wickedly curved teeth, for a moment Adam was about to ask what animal they came from, then he remembered what he had seen flying overhead, and decided he didn't need to know.

"Do you know who we are?" He replied after a moment.

"Of course, we saw you arrive, crouched, weapons ready, why this was, I do not know. That's a very strange way to arrive if I might say so." His voice was cultured sounding like he and been to Oxford or Cambridge.

"We were expecting to be attacked," Tony said defensively, getting over his initial shock.

"Who could possible attack you here?" Talib asked.

"We don't know where here is."

"All will become clear after your trial." Talib smiled at them both.

"Trial?" They both shouted together. Talib looked surprised.

"You have broken so many laws, there has to be a trial." His voice sounded surprised.

"How could we possibly know we've broken any laws?" Tony asked, annoyed at the turn of events.

"Tony, Adam said quietly, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse."

"What the hell does that mean?" Exclaimed Tony loudly.

"Spoken like a true law enforcer." Tony's head was swinging back between the two of them.

"Can you explain the laws we have supposedly broken?" Adam asked quietly.

"First, you entered our realm, by an unknown method, second, you are a muggle and inside our realm without permission, third, you have a firearm inside our realm and last, you are an Auror." He finished looking at Tony. "All four are against our laws."

"We don't know where here is and we came here by port key that someone set up," Tony said in defence.

"That remains to be seen."

"Why is being an Auror or a muggle against your rules?" Adam asked, as Tony walked away, angrily kicking at some stones, which did nothing except cover himself in a cloud of red dust.

"An Auror or a muggle can only enter the Extensions at the bequest of our priestess and having the correct paperwork at hand, which you obviously do not have," Talib replied.

"You were right Tony," Adam said. "Well Talib, I suppose you should take us to your priestess."

"We are already there." He pulled the short narrow spear from inside the hide shield, which turned out to be very pointed and made of metal, the handle, thicker and made of polished wood. He pointed the wooden end of the spear at the side of the road and an old worn wooden door rose from the dusty ground.

"I take it that's a wand of some sort?" Adam asked as he gestured towards the spear.

"Yes." He pushed at the end of the spear which released something inside and a wand slid from it. Talib pushed his wand back inside until it clicked. "General life in the Extensions can be a little rough on wands and there is little chance of buying a new one, so this is protection." He waved the spear for a moment before he reached over and pulled the door open.

Adam looked inside at the small dusty room, and then he looked around the back of the door and found a closed door on that side. He walked back and looked inside again, seeing another door inside, similar to the first, only this one had six pieces of smoothed driftwood on each side on the door, each with a different gold symbol etched on them. Talib stepped inside and pressed the top left wooden sign, which moved under the pressure of his hand, the door clicked. Talib looked at them both, smiled and opened that door.

"Welcome to the AMC, gentlemen."


	22. Chapter 22 Back to Aunt Matilda TAL

Chapter 22

Back to Matilda

Adam stood opened mouth at the narrow cool corridor stretching away from them. The floor, neat, clean terracotta tiles, the plain smooth walls painted light green, lined with more doors, although these were dark green.

"This is the AMC."

"This is the Uitbreidings, which forms part of the AMC." Said Talib who was pointing this spear at this head. Adam watched in amazement as Talib's red cloak rippled and shimmered, replaced with a navy blue pinstriped suit, with a white shirt and ruby red tie. The spear, bow and shield were also gone; all that remained was his wand, which he slipped into his jacket pocket.

"We nearly met the other day, but our priestess decided to go herself, something about a troublesome shadow."

"I think that could be me and I assume your priestess is Kalishar?" Adam replied, which received a smile from Talib. Adam tried to guess the man's age, but could not, realising he could by any age from early twenties to late seventies or even older.

"Would you care to join us, Auror Garrett?" He called back through the door. Tony, still angry, stomped through and joined them.

One of the side doors opened and Luthor Crabbe walked out, a huge smile on his face.

"Adam, Tony, good to see you both. You seem to have caught us unaware, you should have called first."

"I want a bloody word with you," Adam said pointing his finger at Luthor, whose smile, if possible, grew even larger.

"You did brilliantly. Both of you."

"I could have shot you," Adam said anger in his voice.

"I half expected you to do so, but I had protected myself in advance. More importantly, what brings you both here?"

"We were following Arcadius's trail, Tony spoke, "and we found a port key that brought us here."

"Which means that Arcadius is inside your Ministry." Finished Adam.

"Are, seems we have a little problem." The smile dropped from his face. "Seems that Arcadius has put a complaint into the Ministry about you." Adam saw Tony's mouth dropped open. "He states he was unfairly attacked, he has been hurt badly. He is asking for the most punitive damages and has requested asylum within the AMC."

Adam grabbed Tony's arm just before he was about to step forward and pulled him over. "Don't get angry," he whispered in his ear, "let it ride, remember we have all the proof we need." Tony looked around and relaxed.

"Has asylum been granted?" Adam asked.

"Not yet, there are too many questions unanswered, however, he seems to have disappeared within the Uitbreidings."

"What exactly is the Uitbreidings?" He asked, saying the word completely wrong.

"Uitbreidings is extensions in Afrikaans and you have just been inside one." Replied Talib. "I fact you are still inside one."

"That was an Extension spell?" Tony asked, his voice betraying his amazement. "It's bloody huge." He turned and paced back the way he had come before stopping again. "I thought it might be, but I couldn't believe how big it was. Am I right in thinking the mountains are just some picture and not real?" He asked as he paced back to them.

"No." Said Talib. "The Extensions really are that big, and maybe even bigger, no one is entirely sure."

"There's more than one?"

"There are nine extensions, each one a self-contained world, populated with various people, some indigenous, some not."

"Nine separate worlds, we couldn't catch him on one world, let alone nine," Adam said with feeling realising the enormity of the task. He looked at Luthor. "Surely you can find him pretty quickly?" Luthor gave Adam a strange look.

Before Adam could ask any more questions, a deeply African female voice echoed down the corridor.

"Why is everybody having secret conversations in the corridor?" They all looked down the corridor, Kalishar striding towards them with purpose, her elegant bone-white gown sliding across the tiles. She stopped and stared at the group, her hand came up, a finger pointing at them.

"What is that Investigating shadow doing in my Ministry?" She almost bellowed. Adam saw a look of total surprise cross Talib's face for a moment before he got himself composed.

Adam went to reply, but her hand came up. "You do not talk here."

"Madam President." Said Luthor, her face snapped towards him. "It would seem our friends have been tricked into coming here."

"We weren't tricked," Tony said deciding to join the conversation. "We were following a known criminal who is evading capture."

"You do not talk here Auror, you have no authority here, understand." She gestured at Talib and walked up the corridor, he followed meekly, which seemed to Adam to be completely out of character, but he did not know why. He went to speak to Luthor, who was staring at the backs of the other two, a pensive look on his face.

Talib was whispering to Kalishar, suddenly she looked around and gave them a look that could kill on its own. She listened further while her eyes bored into Adam's. Talib stopped talking and Kalishar seemed to take a huge breath of air as if readying herself for something. She walked back to them.

"You, investigating shadow, are not allowed in the African Magical Congress." Her accent was much stronger than when they'd met at the Ministry. "You are banned, leave now and take your pet Auror with you." She turned away. Adam could feel Tony had braced himself at her comment. Adam held onto his arm, knowing he was angry, which would cause them trouble if he flew off the handle.

Kalishar stopped and looked backed at Tony. "Auror's are not allowed in the African Magical Congress without my express permission." She turned away and continued to walk the length of the corridor. "Talib, get them out, now." She shouted back. "Luthor, my office." She barked. They all looked at Luthor for a moment before Talib gestured or them to go back through the door. Adam gave a last look at Luthor and received a smile and a wink just before he turned away, heading up the corridor, catching up with Kalishar.

They followed Talib back to the little room and he closed the door. Tony looked at him, ready to explode, but Adam shook his head slightly when he caught his eye. They watched Talib touch another of the wooden panel and heard the click. He pulled the door open and gestured for them to enter.

"Until we meet again, and we will, that is for certain." Talib closed the door leaving them alone in the blistering heat.

"What the fuck was all that about," Tony said to the world just before both of their phones bleeped once. Tony stamped around in the dry dust, not noticing that it was brown and not red, as Adam took his phone out. After a moment, he held it up in front of Tony.

"What's it telling us?" He asked.

"Were in the middle of the Serengeti National Park." Tony looked around, confused. "Can you get us somewhere private?" He asked, Tony nodded and grabbed Adam's arm and a moment later, they were standing in Aunt Matilda. Through the open window, they could hear the alley below, full of people and children happily shopping. Although it must have been eighty degrees in the boat, it felt blissfully cool after the heat of Africa.

He took a seat and waited for Tony to get two cold drinks and then start to calm down. After he has paced the small sun deck several times, he sat down opposite Adam, who had already finished his drink.

"You're waiting for me to calm down aren't you?" He asked finally understanding why Adam was so quiet. He grinned back and lounging across the settee. Tony copied his seating position subconsciously.

"All right, "he finally asked, "what did I miss?"

"Kalishar can read minds, so ".

"So she knew exactly why and how we got there." He finished, shaking his head in frustration at missing these important details that Adam seemed to pick up so easily.

"Also the other things she said had double meanings as far as I can tell, the problem is, I don't know what she wants us to know."

"Do you think this Talib has something to do with it?"

"No, he looked more shocked than you when she shouted at us, he almost managed to hide it. Luthor tipped me a wink and a smile while nobody was watching, so I suspect something else is afoot." Tony nodded, trying to piece this information together. "I'm more concerned about Arcadius's accusations."

"I'm not. The memories and a pensive will prove what happened." Tony replied finally calming down enough to start thinking properly.

"Also, if we have a problem there, we still have our phones recordings." Tony nodded. "Kalishar said I, an investigation shadow, was unwelcome or not allowed, does that mean that if I'm just a muggle, then I am allowed," Adam asked of himself more than Tony.

"I hadn't thought of that, she emphasised the word investigating." It was Adam's turn to nod.

"Also, she said, you were not welcome, because you were an Auror, or words to that effect."

"So if you were not an investigating policeman and I wasn't an Auror, we'd be allowed back." Adam nodded again.

"Or we have the correct paperwork in place, surely we can get Maldue to organise that." Tony nodded "More important than all of that, is what I forgot to do." He said bitterly.

"What was that?"

"I forgot to ask how Gwen was."

Tony reached down and picked his untouched drink up. "Hope she doesn't find out." He said before taking a drink.

"I'll find a way to keep Gwen happy later." He closed his eyes for a moment. "If the Ministry backs Arcadius over us..."

Again, Tony interrupted. "The problem we have is that Arcadius is hiding inside the AMC, relations between the Ministry and the AMC have never been good."

"How about, Kalishar knows more than we do, due to her little abilities?" Tony frown at him. "Didn't she say she was a prophetess?"

"No, please don't go back to prophecies." Tony shook his head wearily.

"If she can see the future, what can she see and what does it have to do with us?" Tony shook his head and shrugged. "How would we find out?"

"I really do not know?" Adam stood up. "I'm going down to the Cauldron for a drink and a think." He announced.

"Fine, I'll pop into the office and call Maldue, see if he has anything for us." He said standing up. Adam found himself alone and standing in the alley in front of the Cauldron.

He sat down with a large tankard and a small, small for the cauldron anyway, sandwich. He was about to take a bite when the door opened and a flowery figure seemed to breeze in with a rustle of skirts. She waved over at Adam as she walked across the room.

"Adam, good to see you." Said Botilda. "I owe you an apology."

"You do?" He asked confused.

"Yes, I dropped you off on the road outside the other day, instead of in the alley. I was told off." She grinned at him excitedly, obviously not sorry at all.

Adam grinned back. "I made it back and made it St Mungo's all on my own, nearly." He added.

"Good. I have news for you."

"I hope it's good, I could do with some good news for a change."

"Anything wrong." She asked leaning forward, giving Adam the chance to look at her closely, he realised she was extremely attractive, underneath the strange clothing and a mop of unruly hair, or was she good with magic, he wondered.

"We've been thrown out of the African Magical Congress."

She leaned back in the chair, the smile had dropped. "Really. Then what I am about to tell is not going to make your day any brighter. You have to report to the Ministry tomorrow morning, A Professor Darnell has placed a serious complaint against Tony."

"We both know about the complaint and we're not worried about it." She looked shocked for a moment.

"The ministry is taking it very seriously, he is a Hogwarts professor."

"We have more than enough proof of his culpability."

"I do hope so, because the complaint has come from Professor Darnell, via the AMC."

"What a surprise." He took a deep draft of his drink.

"Another thing." She said brightly. "Argonia Huxley, I thought she was dead." She exclaimed. "Auror Lee brought her into St. Mungo's." Adam nodded. "Lee took her memories and handed them over to me."

"At least something's gone right today."

"More good news. I have been instructed by Minister Weasley to be your liaison for anything you require at the Ministry. Really it's to save you going to the Ministry all the time, should have done it when you first started." She shrugged and smiled.

"You mean it's the best way to keep me out of the Ministry."

"I don't think so." She leaned back in the chair, looking upset. "You're rather liked by quite a few people." There a little twinkle in her eye as she spoke. "You have a certain way of doing things, that either upsets people or..." She left the sentence hanging, raising her eyebrows for a moment.

"How do we contact you if we need something?" He asked changing the subject that was fast becoming a little too personal.

"Don't worry, Tony knows how to get me. I'll be off, Good luck Adam." She grabbed his arm and squeezed for a moment as she left the chair, heading for the door a moment later. He called goodbye after her and received a hand wave over her shoulder as she left the Cauldron.

He wondered why she acted that way, but his phone played a strange melody, causing most of the people in the bar to look at him, with varying levels of hostility.

"Answer" He whispered. "DCI Croft?"

"Nugent. Are you able to talk?" Adam's heart sank.

"Mostly." He replied.

"The AI has had another fit, as two of its officers disparaged off the face of the planet. Care to explain?" He dropped his head down and cradled his brow in his hand.

"We were underground and lost signal." He replied not able to think of anything else that could explain the loss of connection.

"What, in South Africa?" Adam couldn't come up with a suitable answer. "Meet me outside Leicester Square Station in ten minutes, you're only a couple of minutes away, enough time for you to enjoy your sandwich now the pretty girl has left." The phone went dead.

Adam looked down at the sandwich, his appetite gone.

As he arrived at the station, he found the Commissioner inside leaning against the wall. He was wearing a light raincoat hiding his uniform. He walked past Adam back into the street without saying a word. Adam followed him a short distance, to an alleyway. The commissioner placed his hand on Adams' chest, covering his camera, and then raised a small piece of paper in front of him. It simply said 'Phone off'.

Adam pulled his phone out, tapped a code into it and watched the display on the front fade out, he then pulled the camera from his jacket and went to remove the earpiece, but decided not to.

"This is very clandestine Commissioner?" Adam levels of suspicion had gone through the roof.

"This is the only place I know of in London, where I can guarantee we won't be seen or overheard."

"What the hell are you going to tell me?"

"I, like yourself, are watched twenty-four hours a day, by someone who never sleeps, or misses any little tiny detail." Adam frowned, not knowing what was going on. "Also, I think someone else is watching what we all do. Any ideas?"

Adam thought for a moment. "Tony's ministry people will have the ability, but I don't know who the first one is."

"How much do you now know about this Ministry?"

"The important question is what do you know about the Ministry?"

"I am currently the only person who is watching some of your exploits." Adams' eye grew larger as he realised the Commissioner knew all about Tony. "However someone else has the ability to watch every single thing you and Garrett do and I am sure they are doing just that."

"But you're the only person?"

"Correct. The police AI is not a person." Dawning realisation hit Adam. "The AI is leading me to a degree. The other day I woke up after a nap at my desk. Half an hour had passed. I found that shocking as I have never fallen asleep at work before." He paused for a moment. "My personal log was open, showing me that several alarms had gone off. After checking, the AI gave me some CCTV recordings to watch. You react extremely well under an enormous amount of pressure and show a great deal of trust in those that turned up."

"It's very hard to explain some of the people I meet."

He nodded. "How much do you trust young Garrett?"

"With my life." He answered with no hesitation, then wondering why he was asking this question, "Why do you ask?"

"Tell me what you think of him?"

"He falls over his own two feet at times, he's unfit and knows just about nothing of our technology, our laws or our procedures, however, he's bloody clever and learns quickly."

"And his other more specialised skills?"

"He is so good, he scares the hell out of himself, and me, and most of the Ministry." The commissioner went quiet, thinking. "How long have you known about Tony and the Ministry?"

A big grin came over the commissioner's face. "I'm the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police; I was given a full breakdown by the PM the day I took over the job five years ago. I have a painting in my office that seems to change from time to time and it cannot be removed." He paused for a moment. "The forces that be, have always known about them, they just have no idea what to do about them, and in general I ignore them, as they cause me no trouble, that's if I could do anything about them if they did cause me trouble." There was a forlornness in his voice.

"I don't know how much you're seen via the camera, but you should get the AI to search for prophecies, it's something that the Ministry takes very seriously and as far as I can tell, they have a habit of being correct."

"Fortune telling?" He asked confused, Adam nodded.

"We'll find another time to talk in private, Commissioner." Adam took his phone and extras out of his pocket.

"Let's make it soon, I under a great deal of pressure to complete your retirement and your replacement is champing at the bit."

"Who is my replacement?" He asked refitting the earpiece and camera.

"Dan Metcalf."

Adam smiled. "Good choice."

"Garrett." Called the Commissioner as Tony walked passed the alleyway, his back to them.

"What the hell are you doing?" He stopped when he saw the commissioner. "Sir". He added.

"Your phone?" He asked holding his hand out. Tony reached into his pocket and then closed his eyes.

"It's at home." He said knowing he was in trouble. The commissioner's hand dropped as he looked reproachfully at Tony.

"Never ever leave your phone, it belongs on your body at all times, in this instance, I'll let it pass, but it is not forgotten." There was a definite edge of anger in the man's voice. "A word to the wise for future reference. This is a good spot for a private conversation." He walked past them both heading toward the street. "Good day gentlemen." He said rounding the corner.

"What the fuck was all that about."

"You left your phone where?" He asked angrily.

"On the boat and I left it on purpose."

"Why would you do that?"

"Someone keeps ringing and I think it's the Ministry and I don't want to talk to them at the moment."

"I thought you've just been speaking to the Ministry?"

"Not directly, I managed to get someone I know to do some searches for me."

"You should have answered your phone; we have to be at the ministry tomorrow morning for an inquiry."

"They rang you as well?"

"No Botilda told me."

"What?"

"She met me in the Cauldron, apparently she is our link to the Ministry for information." Adam held his arm out. "Back to the boat and I'll explain all."

They arrived back at the boat and on the small table in the sunrooms a small package which turned out to be Adam's sandwich he had left at the cauldron. A similar package sat next to it, which was Tony's, who, not finding Adam, asked the Cauldrons staff where he was, he quickly worked out where Adam had gone, but not why, had walked along the road to the station, where he had found them both.

They brought each other up to date. Tony had checked on the AMC and its laws, finding out that, Auror's really we not allowed in the AMC without certain paperwork, which was already being prepared for them, although no laws could be found banning muggle police. His contact had also told him about the relationship between the UK and the AMC had been so fraught for hundreds of years, they had almost come to war. Things had thawed considerably since the demise of Voldemort.

Sandwiches eaten, they settled back, while Tony went through some of the stranger books he owned, which Adam was certain they moved of their own violation. Adam used his phone to request searches of the police database. There was nothing else to do until tomorrow.


	23. Chapter 23 The Pensieve TAL

Chapter 23

The Pensieve

Tony re-appeared a moment later on the sun deck of Aunt Matilda, with a large glass dish, which seemed to be full of shimmering liquid. He carefully carried it out of the room, down the stairs and along the corridor to the large bedroom used by Adam.

He followed watching Tony tip the bowl from time to time, seeing the liquid inside stay level with the bowl's edge, never a chance of it spilling. He placed the pensive on the small sideboard. He picked the first phial up and poured the pearlescent liquid into the bowl, watching it swirl around as if stirred by an imaginary spoon.

"Tony," Adam said placing his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I don't think this will be a very pleasant experience. I think you may find this more shocking than me."

"What makes you think that?" He asked as he placed the empty phial on the sideboard.

"I've been around a bit more than you and I know how far people will go in degrading themselves, willingly or not. Something tells me wizards are no different to muggles and because of your magic, I think they could be a lot worse." Tony nodded, not wanting to say anything.

At Adams nod, they both bowed their heads into towards the bowl.

They dropped in almost complete darkness until they stopped in a darkened room, small glowing red lamps lit only the small area around them, giving enough light to enable people to avoid each other but nothing more.

"Can you make the light brighter?" Adam asked keeping his voice quiet.

"No, this is someone memories remember."

Adam let loose a couple of expletives as they walked around the room finding themselves surrounded by heavy drapes. They both stopped and looked at the same drape as they hard a sobbing coming from behind it. Adam reached over and tried to pull the curtain apart, but his hand moved through the curtain.

"Memory," Tony spoke in his ear and walked through the curtain. Adam shrugged ruefully and followed him through an archway, finding themselves in a large room, small lights ringed the walls, thick carpet and heavy drapes covered the walls, deadening any sound. Standing in the middle of the room was Argonia and another Argonia, both the women were dressed in underwear that left little to the imagination.

"Come on you two, play the part, or else, people here paying a lot of money for this." Said a man with an American accent.

Adam and Tony's head spun towards the place where the voice came from and found a bearded man slouched in a semi-circular plush bench. Adam stared at him, noticing the deep blue eyes and the shape of the eyebrows, something about them was familiar to Adam. Three other men, intoxicated, by their glazed eyes, were watching the two women. The women continued with the act they were performing, caressing each other intimately. Adam ignored the woman and stood in front of the sitting men, studying each man etching their features into his memory, making sure he would remember them again when required.

One of the other men had picked up his wand and had sent sparks across the room at the women, they both crashed to the floor screaming, their legs and arm jerking around in pain as the spell coursed through her body. The men all laughed as the empty glasses on the table refilled themselves.

Adam looked around and found Tony pacing around stomping angrily around the room. Suddenly the room swirled around them, replaced by a similar room. This time Argonia was on her own floating in the middle of the room, a different room, this one devoid of drapes and small lights. There no windows and light came from a small globe above her head.

She was dressed in the same revealing underwear as before, tears streaming down her face, whether due to pain, shame, or both. Her legs looked dirty in the light until they saw the marks were bruises.

A group of men, some of which were in the first memory were standing around her; the ringleader was again the man with the American accent, their wands forcing her body to bend into almost impossibly contorted shapes.

The room swirled again, this time the room was different, she was in a narrow room, beds ranged along one wall. Argonia was in the nearest narrow bed, curled up foetally, covered with a dirty sheet, facing the wall. Adam walked the length of the room looking at each bed, filled with a different person, some male some female, all naked, covered in various scars and marks. He stopped at the nearest and saw the face of Sarah Mitchell. A huge man as broad as he was wide came through the curtain his face hidden behind a cloth mask. He walked up to Sarah, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her protesting body from the bed, across the wooden floor through the curtains into another room, where he took a single bottle from a row and held it out to her. She reluctantly took the bottle, opened it and swallowed the contents, which were obviously foul by the way she screwed her face up. Adam gasped as he watched Sarah turn into another woman. As soon as the transformation was complete she was dragged out, her screams, weak and pitiful and as was dragged into another drape lined room and dropped unceremoniously on the carpeted floor. The room contained a single large bed, on it was a hairy large man, instantly recognisable to both Adam and Tony. His wand flipped her up into the air so she slowly rotated around giving him an all-around view of her. He looked at the man who had dragged her in and nodded. He left leaving her floating around above the man. The man flicked his wand and Sarah/whoever crashed to the floor.

The room swirled and they were standing in the bedroom. Tony sat down on the bed, his face ashen.

"You OK Tony?"

"Yes." He replied quietly standing up and placed the tip of his wand in the pensive pulling out the memory and returning it to the bottle. He made a copy and handed it to Adam.

"Just in case we get split up."

Adam nodded slipping the phial into his jacket pocket. "Tony, the last images were of Sarah Mitchell taking, what I must assume is polyjuice?"

"Yep."

"She seemed to take the stuff willingly."

"The imperiouse curse and quite a few others I should think."

"Then we need to have a serious talk with Miss Huxley and sort this out as quickly as possible. Have you any idea where these memories came from."

"Argonia." He replied confused.

"No, where the memories actually took place?"

"No. We'll have to get Argonia to tell us if she knows."

"Hold on." He held his hand up or a moment while he thought, "can we be sure we were actually watching Huxey's memories, no, that's wrong, what if all the Argonia's we saw were the murdered girls made to look like Argonia?"

Tony turned back and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I don't know?" He looked confused.

"I assume we just watched the memories you took from her?"

"Yes."

"Then we have to check the memories she gave to us, they might show us what she could be hiding if she was." He said as Tony took the second bottle of the table.

A few minutes later their heads came up from the pensive.

"I don't know about you, but I saw quite a lot of minor differences between the two." Tony nodded, remaining quiet. "I don't know exactly how these memories work, but from my point of view, I would assume we were watching all of these events through Argonia's eyes."

"We saw Sarah Mitchell for a moment in both memories, looking like herself."

Adam nodded. "Good, all we need to do now is work out from what position the memories were taken."

"The second version says Argonia is involved up to her neck, the first version say's she been used." He looked at the wall and went silent.

"Tony." He said bringing him out of his daydream. "In Argonia's memories, the guys in the room had their faces hidden in her version and not in your version." Again, Tony nodded. "So she is shielding them."

"I'd have to say yes because if someone had tampered with her memories, the faces would be hidden in both versions." Adam wait knowing Tony had something else to say. "Unless they were taken at different times."

"Which means what?"

"Her memories could have been tampered with after the first lot were taken."

"So she could have been shielding them." Tony nodded, knowing this wasn't helping. Adam changed the subject. "The American one looked very similar to our young crossdresser, Mr Adair." Tony nodded again. "I assume he is his father?"

"The other two sitting with him were Aurors," Tony added, "a few years older than me, but they are here in the Ministry, they were with us during the interviews."

"Yes, they were, standing at the back." He pointed his finger at Tony. "The Fourth guy, the older one, do you know him?"

"I'm afraid to say I do." Adam waited for Tony to finish. "Arthur Wenlock, he's the head of the Wizarding Registration Department."

Adam shook head. "Which means?"

"He has access to the records of every single wizard and witch in the UK. He probably has access to other countries via the accords." Adam's mouth opened so Tony continued. "The accords are just cooperation agreements between different Ministries."

"So he has connections then." Tony nodded again. "I assume you recognise the big guy on the bed?"

"I won't forget that bastard in a hurry."

"He's been watching you or us since day one, which means he knows about the prophecies and what we're doing."

"Probably," Tony said forlornly. "I wish I'd finished him the other day. I had the chance, I showed off and he got away."

"He's on the Ministries most wanted list; add the information we have here." He gestured at the pensive.

"If the Ministry acts on it."

"Why wouldn't they?"

"A Professor of some standing, even if he wasn't hiding in the AMC, an American wizard who if I'm not mistaken is a member of the Macusa. That's the American version of the Ministry for Magic and very powerful. Auror's and one of our own high ranking ministers."

Adam sat down, deep in thought.

"When I'm in a position like this, and I have been in the past and I think something underhand is going on, I make sure it can't all be hidden, thus somehow forcing people's hands."

"How would you do that?"

"At a time like that, the press become your best friend. However, we don't have that option. But we've just taken a huge leap forward in the case."

"Which case, the murders, the muggle problem or some sort of-." Tony raised his hands, "Whatever the hell was going on with Huxley."

He went quiet for a moment before his face lit up. He jumped up and ran from the room. Adam followed wondering what had just occurred to him, entering the sun deck walking around, obviously wanting to do something, but unsure what. Adam followed him in.

"Tony, you've had an idea, care to share?"

"Yes I have, but it's your idea. Where's Holly?"

"What?"

"Where's Holly?" He asked again.

"Back in Brighton, I should think."

"We need her."

"You keep forgetting to use the technology we have. Phone, call Constable Holly Fairweather."

While they waited, Tony continued to pace the small room in agitation.

"Hello, Holly." Tony stopped pacing.

"Yes, he is with me," Adams said and then went quiet. Tony raised his hands in the silence, annoyed he couldn't hear the conversation.

"So you're off until tomorrow." More silence which did nothing for Tony's agitation.

"Can I send Tony down to pick you up and bring you here?" Tony nodded animatedly.

Adam waited for some time before speaking again. "Go to the spot outside the hospital where we took the girl, remember." He paused again. "Tony will wait and yes he will take you back afterwards and not leave you all alone in London." He pointed at Tony while he was talking, who nodded vigorously.

"See you very soon."

"Don't run off Tony." He said ending the call. "She needs ten minutes to get dressed and put some war paint on."

"It's midday, surely she's dressed already." Annoyed at having to wait. Adam gave him his best withering look and shook his head.


	24. Chapter 24 Another Fairweather TAL

Chapter Twenty Four

Another Fairweather.

Tony and Holly appeared in front of him. He did a double take of Holly, no longer in uniform, her hair down, immaculate, shiny. Her grey close fitting suit looked very muggled and sophisticated. She grinned at Adam before taking in the surroundings. She ran to the open window and looked down on the scene below.  
"Were in mid-air, how?" She looked around at them, her eyes wide.  
"This is my boat, Aunt Matilda."  
"It's floating, in the air." She exclaimed.  
"There's no way down or off, unless you apparate, fall or jump." He said looking at Tony.  
"I'm working on that." He replied a little sheepishly as Holly, oblivious to them both, headed down the stairs to the lower deck. The sound of doors being opened and closed came through the open door, followed by Holly's laughter.  
"It's bloody brilliant." Holly exclaimed loudly as she stepped back into the sun deck. "When I was young, I remember we had extra rooms that appeared when they were needed and rooms that changed size, I thought everyone had houses that did that. I used to get some strange looks when I first went to school. I didn't know at the time it was my mother's doing." She dropped onto the settee and looked at them both. "What do you want?"  
"Tony has a request of you; hopefully he'll tell you and me what it is." They both looked at Tony, who was grinning.  
"It was Adam's idea, he said normally when in a fix, he would use the press to protect information from going missing, being lost on purpose or hidden." She nodded at him, knowing this from her own work in the police. "We need someone on this side to do the same thing." Adam smiled as he realised where Tony was going.  
"You are fucking joking." She exclaimed, sitting up, obvious to Adam she had just guessed Tony's idea. She shook her head. "You don't know my mother; she would sell her own daughter if she thought it would help her career."  
"When did she sell you?" Tony asked shocked at the thought.  
She looked at Adam and raised her hands, a beseeching look on her face.  
"I think she means," Adam interrupted, "her mother is not to be trusted."  
"And then some," Holly added with some vehemence.  
"One of the dead people we're investigating is not dead, and her being alive incriminates some very important people." Tony said sitting on the desk edge. Adam watched the look of shock appear on her face.  
"Seriously, you think my mother could help?"  
"There is a chance the Ministry will close down the investigation and smother the information when they receive it."  
"Would she be open to helping us?" Asked Adam.  
Holly interrupted. "If there's something in it for my mother, then she'll be your best friend," she paused, holding her hand up, "until that something runs out, and then you had better watch your back."  
"That's a given for all reporters." Adam said smiling at Tony. "Do you know where she is at the moment?" He asked of them both.  
"She'll be in the Prophets main office, lording it over the lesser mortals," Holly replied, with a certain amount of scorn in her voice.  
"Do you know where that is Tony?"  
"It's right below us." He turned to Holly. "If I bring her here can you put in a good word for us?"  
"A good word, I don't know a good word for my mother, we haven't spoken since she threw me out of the house over seven years ago." She said, her agitation growing.  
"Holly, how good a reporter is your mother?" Adam asked, trying to calm her down.  
"I have no idea." There was something in her voice that told Adam that however good her mother was, Holly would never admit it.  
Adam looked at Tony waiting for him to speak.  
"Nobody spoke highly of her at Durstrang, but then again, she did a couple of stories on the school that were far from pleasant."  
"Were they true?" Adam asked.  
"Yes they were, but she embellished things a little." He added after a pause. "Actually quite a lot, now I come to think of it."  
"How close is the paper to the Ministry?" Adam asked receiving heads shakes from both. "I don't see what choice we have, go get her." He nodded and disappeared.

He reappeared in the sun deck a minute later, this time he had Holly's twin sister on his arm. Adam looked into her hard eyes and didn't like what he saw. Holly had slipped out into the kitchen as soon as she realised Tony had gone to get her.  
"Well, what do you want?" Stormy spat at Tony.  
"Do you use magic to make yourself look just like your daughter?" Asked Adam, not expecting a reply.  
"I have no daughter." She bellowed as she rounded on him.  
"You fucking bitch," Holly screamed with feeling from the kitchen. A moment later a small bundle of incandescent fury sprang up the stairs, aiming straight for her mother, who stepped back and pulled a wand from her bag, Adam stepped forward and plucked the wand from her hand, the second step moved into the way of Holly, who collided with his back with force.  
"Office Fairweather, sit down," Adam said in his most authoritative tone, which worked as Holly backed up, barely keeping her fury in check as she glared at her mother.  
"You took my wand." Stormy shrieked, stopping the moment Tony's wand touched her throat.  
"Enough." Her head span round and looking at him with restrained loathing.  
"What are you doing here?" She spat at Holly, ignoring the wand  
"None of your business." She growled before turning towards Tony. "I warned you." She stomped back towards the kitchen. Stormy opened her mouth about to say something to her retreating daughter.  
"One more word and I will personally throw you out of that window," Tony said as Stormy looked over her shoulder, her eyebrows rose as she realised how high up she was and where she was.  
"Well Mister Auror, what do you want?" She said looking back.  
"We have information we believe should be brought to the public's attention." Adam said moving across the room and sitting down. Stormy's eyes followed him and her wand.  
"Auror Garrett. She said pointing at Tony, a smile on her lips as he nodded back. She looked at Adam. "You must be the muggle that the Ministry has brought in, again." Adam smiled and dipped his head. "That's pissed a lot of people off." She looked around the room. "Was it you two who were chased from the Ministry the other day?" She continued as her eyes snapped back to Adam and Tony.  
"We might have been," Adam replied.  
Stormy's entire persona seemed to change; a smile brightened her face, her body relaxed, just before she strode across the room and sat down next to Adam. He was stunned to see that even close up she looked almost identical to her daughter, they could have passed as twins.  
"Can I assume that the information you wish to become public is somehow involved with this chase?" Her voice changed, becoming softer, almost cajoling. Adam grinned back at her knowing the person she was now, was the person they needed to do business with, for the time being anyway.  
Adam spent a few minutes giving Stormy the basics of the story, with Tony adding when required. As he talked, Holly re-entered the room, not missed by Stormy, whose eyes followed her across the room, while still listening.

"Now you have the basics, what else do you need to know? I also need to know how much influence the Ministry has on the paper?" Adam asked. Stormy waved her hand at her handbag, which opened itself and a quill and a roll of parchment fluttered out. The parchment already covered with neat script.  
"Currently, the Prophet is not in the Ministries good books."  
"Why would that be?" He continued.  
"We did a large story on the Ministry bringing in muggles to do the jobs of an Auror." She smiled at him, happy with him knowing.  
"Why are you against muggles?"  
"I'm not and neither is the prophet, but news is news. Loyalty can't get in the way of a good story." She smiled again.  
"Not while there's money to be made." Said Holly keeping her voice low. Adam watched Stormy flinch at this, whether the comment or her daughter talking caused it, he didn't know.  
"Names, date's, places." She replied ignoring her daughter.  
"You can't have it all, we need to protect people, also please note that if you print this, you too could become a target."  
"The Prophet will become a target, again, names?" Her eyebrows rose.  
"Professor Arcadius Darnell," Tony said from the other side of the room as he sat beside Holly, knowing this would annoy Stormy.  
"No surprises there." She replied giving her daughter another hostile look that was returned.  
"How come?" Adam asked.  
"There always been questions about him and his ability to change his shape at will, but nothing has ever been proven, hence the reason he is still working at Hogwarts."  
"He isn't now. Auror's Augustus Birchwood and Tiler Montgomery." He continued.  
Stormy crossed her arms looking at Tony with a frown. "You're including Auror's in this?" He nodded. "Prey continue."  
"Urian Adair's father. I don't know his name." Stormy's mouth dropped open and her eyes seemed to enlarge.  
"Urian Adair senior, he's Macusa." They both nodded at her.  
"Arthur Wenlock."  
"The head of the WRD?" She sounded shocked as Tony smiled. "Now I know why you want me involved."  
"There's more," Tony said looking at Holly who seemed to have withdrawn into herself.  
Without warning, Stormy leapt from her chair and strode towards her daughter, fury in her face. "Where the hell did you get a wand from?" She was pointing at Holly's open jacket; the shaft of her wand was sticking out.  
"None of your fucking business." Screamed Holly back, already on her feet. Adam noticed her fighting stance, realising she was a moment away from attacking her mother. He was about to launch himself across the room, when both women moved apart, sliding across the floor. They all looked at Tony who had his wand in front of him. Both women tried to move forwards but were unable to do so.  
"Who did you steal the wand off?" She demanded. Holly pulled the wand from her pocket and pointed it at her mother.  
"You wouldn't dare." Doubt in her voice as the colour drained from her face.  
"I thought I was a squib?" Holly said before storming out of the room and stepping out onto the deck, then up onto the lower roof, where they watched her pace back and forth.  
"Shall we carry on?" Asked Adam, waiting for her to turn towards him. "We believe all of this will be brushed under the carpet." Adam said, noticing the look of confusion from Tony. "Covered up" He added, watching a knowing nod come from Stormy.  
"What proof do you have?" Stormy's voice had changed yet again and was now brisk and business like.  
"Memories that can be seen in a pensieve," Tony replied letting Adam off the hook as he had no idea how to supply the required evidence.  
"Can I see them now? I have a pensive back at the office."  
"I have a pensive here on the boat." Her eyebrows rose again. "I stole it from the Ministry earlier today."  
She laughed. "I do like your style Mr Auror. You realise this could jeopardise your career with the ministry."  
"My career with the Ministry ended earlier this morning when I stole the pensive, I placed a letter on Maldue Ledford's desk, giving the Ministry my resignation."  
"Are you sure that was wise?" Asked Adam alarmed at this news. "The Ministry could be the only people that could protect us."  
"They could also be the people who could betray us or worse," Tony replied as he looked at their shocked faces.  
"I agree with both of you, however, you now have the prophet on your side," Stormy said.  
"The prophet will do what?" Holly asked from outside the door, scorn in her voice.  
"If we have copies of the memories, we can distribute them to different offices around the world. That will ensure that they cannot be hidden or covered up." Stormy said, making sure she didn't look at her daughter.

The details agreed with Stormy, between viewing the memories and making several copies. She left making sure she said goodbye to Tony and Adam, ignoring her daughter. Tony took Stormy back to the prophets office.  
"I have a question, but I'm a little afraid to ask it." Adam looked at him quizzically as he sat down. Holly had taken the moment to use Tony's toilet.  
"To do with the case?"  
"No. Promise not to take the piss." This surprised Adam who held his hand up.  
"I promise." He said solemnly.  
He watched Tony take several breaths, gearing himself up to talk.  
"Why do I find Holly also attractive, but not her mother? If they wore the same clothes, I couldn't tell them apart?" Adam laughed. "You said you wouldn't take the piss." He retorted.  
"I'm not taking the piss, and I do not have an answer, however, when you take Holly home, you should ask her out."  
"I can't do that, she might say no, or laugh at me."  
"She will say yes."

Tony didn't come back for some time, giving Adam time to use his phone to bring the police data base up to date with his report, knowing whatever happened next, he would not be a policeman and felt he couldn't leave the job unfinished, whether anyone would ever read the information he was adding, was another matter altogether.  
He threw himself in a heap opposite Adam, who stared at him, waiting for him to talk.  
"What's wrong?" He asked when he realised Tony wasn't going to speak. "Did you ask her out?"  
"No."  
"Why not?"  
"She beat me to it." Adam laughed. "It's not funny." 


	25. Chapter 25 The Ministry TAL

Chapter 25

The Ministry.

The trip into the Ministry had been simple enough; no one checked anything, except for the handing over of Tony's wand. Adam watched the pretty girl give Tony big eyes, waiting for him to speak. He ignored her. Adam saw she was smiling as she shook her head at his waiting back.

They stepped into Maldue's office and found him sitting behind his ornate desk looking unhappy. In the middle of the desk was a neat piece of pale yellow parchment, which Tony could see was the one he had placed there yesterday.

"Are you serious about this?" He asked sharply. Tony did his usual nod. "What are you going to do with yourself?"

"I offered my services to another agency, which has been provisionally accepted, I need a couple of people to provide me with a reference." He replied as he placed several small phials on the table in front of Maldue.

"I assume I am one of them?"

"Yes Minister, although I understand if you don't want to."

"I'll decide on that when I know which agency and what your job will be."

"And Adam is the other." Adam's head snapped around.

"I'll write you a reference, although I don't see how a muggle could influence anyone here." He noticed that Tony was grinning, a grin Adam recognised. "What the hell have you done?"

"I'll explain later." He pointed at the phials. "Those are our and other people's memories, which incriminate several high-ranking officials within this Ministry and the Macusa."

"Fine, the Ministry will vet them and decide what to do with them."

"Those are not the only copies." Said Tony. "We handed a copy of these memories to The Daily Prophet."

Maldue stood and walked to the window and looked down at the atrium.

"Why have you done this Tony?"

"Because I no longer feel I can trust the Ministry, this is also the reason I have resigned." He replied.

"Have you any idea how much trouble this could cause, not just for this Ministry, but other ministry's around the world?"

"You don't know who's in the memories yet."

"I can make a few shrewd guesses."

"However,", interrupted Adam, "this is not the case we were asked to investigate, we now think we know who murdered the muggles, but we don't know the reasons, or what this has to do with the perceived muggle problem."

Maldue nodded before reseating himself. "Hulda and her young friends were being controlled by Arcadius Darnell and some of his friends, still unknown as he is still hiding in the AMC, using asylum as a reason to stay there. We also know they caused the murders. It is the ministry's opinion they were indoctrinated, as are many young people in your world, used to fight wars or commit atrocities. Someone has been studying your world and it's more unpleasant methods."

"What proof do you have that Darnell was controlling Scrivens?" Asked Adam.

"Well it's obvious isn't it?" Replied Maldue.

"That's not what I asked." There was a menacing quality in Adam's voice, which Maldue did not like, but kept quiet. "It is my belief that Arcadius has nothing to do with Scrivens and they are two separate crimes. Darnell is involved in some sex ring using muggles and polyjuice, abetted by Argonia Huxley, whether of her own accord is another matter. Scrivens seems to have been driven by some need to protect the wizarding world and is trying to aid Trelawney's prophecy. As far as I can tell, she had committed no murder."

"The young lad who fell from the broom and died can be attributed to her." Maldue snapped back.

"That was an unfortunate accident. I have the muggle forensics showing he died of a fall, not some unknown spell. I believe she was trying to knock Gabrielle Lywood out and missed. She was flying a lot lower, but she hit Clerkin who was above them." Tony was nodding. "It is my opinion, the Ministry would like to tie them both together and close everything down in a neat little package, however, that would be a miscarriage of justice, that I would not be party too." Adam had repeatedly stabbed the table with his finger as he spoke. Maldue stared at him for a few moments. Adam refused to flinch from his gaze.

Maldue stood up and apparated.

"Can you still apparate in the Ministry?" He asked Tony.

"Not anymore."

They waited for some time, Tony pacing around the room, Adam staring down at the busy Atrium. Maldue reappeared, making them both jump. "Sorry I took so long, I couldn't find the Ministries Pensive." He frowned at Tony as he dropped the little rack of bottles back on the table. "I had to go to Botilda and ask politely and then wait while she made copies for me before I could view them."

"Why didn't you use the one in the Prophets office?" Adam asked.

"The Prophet and the Ministry are not on speaking terms at the moment."

"Why would that be?" Adam asked.

"Botilda went into the Profits office not so long go and confiscated many memory phials. This action was not received well."

"You've taken the memories we gave them for safe keeping?" Adam asked aghast.

"We had to get in before they made any more copies and scattered them around."

"How do you think you can get away with that?" He asked anger in his voice.

"Detective Croft." Maldue's shout echoed Adam's anger. "We do not run a democracy here in the Ministry. Our word is final. We do not wish these things to become known outside of the Ministry. If you had all of your memories, you would know and understand this. The memories we have of certain people will make them very amenable to us."

"So you'll let a murderer go free to score some political points?"

"No. We know who the murderer is, he is hiding within the AMC, demanding asylum. You have not caught him yet. Your work here is not finished Detective Croft, Auror Garrett."

"What about Luthor Crabbe?"

"I know you both suspect Luthor." His voice changed, the anger dropping away. "It was he who put the original prophecies together many years ago. It was he, who found you, Adam, several years ago and forced the Ministry to bring you in to investigate a crime."

Adam stored this information. "I know Luthor has nothing to do with this. However, I knew he had some involvement, which you have confirmed. But, Darnell is a middle man, there is someone in this Ministries, high up, that is the leader, that's who we need to catch."

"I agree and I believe there is more than one." Maldue's voice had changed again, now it was amenable. "We need Arcadius, but we can't get to him at the moment."

"And I'm not sure Arcadius is a murderer." Adam's voice had dropped to match Maldue's.

"Why?"

Tony leaned forward. "The memories we saw do not add up and Arcadius's actions do not make sense, at least they don't to me."

Maldue closed his eyes, looking tired. "I'll talk to Botilda again and see what she has to say." Tony and Adam exchanged glances.

"There's nothing more we can do." Said Adam, sensing the conversation was coming to a close. "Which stops us going any further, now Tony seems to have left the Ministry and I am retired." He looked down for a moment. "I still have no idea about, or why my memories were taken. My wife is still in Africa and I don't know how to get her back."

Maldue smiled and leaned forward across the desk, his demeanour had changed again, back to friendliness. "Your memories were removed at your request."

"Why the hell would I do that?" Adam said incredulously.

"You had an Auror partner." Adam looked at Tony.

"Adam, I'm not your first." Adam wagged his finger at him, both men grinning, before looking back at Maldue, who was now holding his wand towards him. There were no sparks or flashes, just a wave and a flick of the wand.

"The memories will come back over the next few days. I would suggest you go somewhere quiet as you're not going to enjoy any part of it, however, you will understand why." Maldue stood up. "I have two unpleasant meetings to attend, first with Percy, which will be uncomfortable; the second with Botilda will be a bloody nightmare. I'll come and find you both soon."

"The muggle problem?" Asked Adam, still seated.

"Is still a problem." He looked pointedly at Tony before sweeping across the room, his cape billowing out behind him. "One more thing Mr Garrett, the Ministry would be most grateful if you returned the pensive you borrowed." The door started to close after him, as the sound another door opening came back, followed by mumbled voices, then they heard one shouted word.

"What?"


	26. Chapter 26 Memories TAL

They sat together with cold untouched drinks in front of them. The small Ministry restaurant was empty for now, but lunch was approaching and would soon be full. A member of staff was going from table to table waving wands over them, which cleaned the table and made the chairs move around into their correct positions in a ballet which was fascinating Adam.  
Tony broke the silence. "Any memories yet?"  
"Lots." He turned his head towards Tony, his eyes showing a sadness he hadn't seen in them before. "Yes, I killed my partner." His voice was flat. "I complained at the time that the most disturbing and insidious thing about the wizarding world was the ability to allow a certain commodity, to be freely available, although difficult to make, but has no restrictions on its use of any kind. There's not even a law against its misuse."  
"l suspect I know the name of this commodity?" Tony asked, knowing Adam was still trying to piece together the new and alien memories now invading his brain.  
"I think you already know, you'll already told me you have been under its influence before and we have come across several times recently."  
"Polyjuice."  
Adam nodded, his eyes dropping to look at the table as he was forced to assimilate more memories.  
"I also know the reason for me becoming a DCI. It was not actually a promotion. I did not want the chance of killing a colleague again. The modern police force all train and wear firearms, it's the law. However, a DCI does not have to carry."  
"You didn't want to carry a gun again?"  
"Correct. I tried to quit the police, apparently, strings were pulled that would keep me in place and I was promoted to DCI."  
"And then they took your memories?" He asked.  
"I met Maldue Ledford and his wife after the trial. They both thanked me, even though it was their son I had killed."  
Shock appeared on Tony's face. He waited saying nothing while Adam sorted himself out and continued.  
"Pereguin Ledford had been knocked out, he was good with a wand, nearly as good as you, but he wasn't quick, someone got the better of him." Adam took a deep breath, recalling long gone memories was obviously painful. "We were moving in for the final take down, we had several wizards cornered. They fed Pereguin Ledford some polyjuice potion, it made him look like the man we were after, a particularly dangerous individual, who had killed many times. Pereguin came round and walked out the door, wand in hand right in front of me. I didn't hesitate, I shot him twice right in the middle of his chest." Adam's head came up. "If we had gone to him straight away, we would have saved his life, we thought we had the man and no one, including me, bothered to check. It was some time later while the area was being cleared that they checked him, the potion had partially worn off." While he spoke his head had dropped back down, his head came back up again. "I think that is the reason for the two murdered girls were different after they died, they were killed while under the influence of polyjuice. The effects don't fully reverse if someone dies while using it."

Adam leaned back, pulled his gun from inside his jacket, he flicked the button on the side, which ejected the cartridge containing the rounds. He threw them both on the table, along with the second cartridge containing the trancs, which he also took from his pocket. He followed this with his tablet, pulled the camera from his shirt and pulled the earpiece out.  
"Tony, do me a favour?"  
"Anything."  
"Can you put them," he gestured at the items on the table, "on Nugent's desk?"  
"I can't, I don't have a wand."  
Adam reached into another pocket and pulled the four wands he had accumulated, placing them on the table. "Will one of these help?"  
Tony smiled as he took the first wand, Ninian Ferhe's again, before flicking the tip at the items, which disappeared. He dropped the wand back onto the table before pushing them all back towards Adam.  
"Put them away. I have no need of them."  
"I assume you need to wait for Pinne to sort you a new one out?"  
"No. It's time to put wands away for now." Adam nodded at the comment, not knowing what he intended, but was willing to wait until he told him.  
"It's funny," said Adam after a moment, "that our worlds are so different, but underneath they both have the same shitty problems."  
Tony nodded back smiling ruefully. "Have you remembered why you've been made to retire yet?"  
"Nope, but somehow I think Maldue is behind it." Adams head came up and the shrewd look came back into his eyes as he stared. "How did you know where to put the gun?"  
"I know where Nugent's desk was."  
"How?"  
"I've been in there a few times."  
"When and why?"  
Tony's smile turned into a full grin. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

The conversation ended as Lee came in and called them both. She led them along various corridors and stairways, ignoring any movement by the lift until they arrived a small office. She opened the door for Adam.  
"Sorry Tony, you're not allowed in." He was about to push past her.  
"It's all right Tony, they're hardly going to harm me after they've given me my memories back, plus I think I now know what's about to happen. I'll talk to you in a bit." Adam entered the room, closing the door.  
"Come on Tony, Mr Weasley want a few choice words with you."  
"What the hell does he want with me?"  
"I have no idea, but there's talk among the Auror's that you've handed your notice into the Ministry. I told them it was rubbish, but you know how rumours travel." She walked off up the long corridor, Tony followed realising he had no choice.  
"Actually it's true."  
Lee looked around while continuing to walk, concern on her face. "Hell teeth Tony, your about to get your own department, why would you do something so stupid?"  
He stopped walking, forcing Lee to do likewise. "I don't feel that being an Auror is what I want to do with my life."  
"What the hell are you going to do?"  
"I have a plan which is probably well on its way to success. I hope." He added more to himself that Lee. She shook her head at him, turned and walked along the corridor, forcing him to follow.

Two minutes later they entered a short green corridor, Tony recognised it from his first visit to the Ministry. At the end, a single door faced them, the numbers four and two, polished to a bright sheen. On either side of the door, two figures stared out from paintings on either side of the door, a man and a woman, unknown to him. He reached up to knock, but the opened on its own.  
"Thank you Auror Martinez." Came a voice from inside. "Come in Mr Garrett."

***

"Adam, finally we get a chance to talk alone." He gestured to the chair opposite him. "Please take a seat." Adam sat and looked at Maldue. "I can tell by the look of misery your memories are returning."  
"Yes, they are."  
"You must know that I hold no blame on you for what happened to my son."  
"I know, but it still doesn't take away my guilt."  
"I don't suppose it does, however something you will not know is that my wife and I adopted my cousin's two children some years ago and brought them up as our own. They have given us so much joy."  
"What happened to your cousins?"  
"Sometimes magic bites back if you push your luck once too often." Adam accepted this comment, knowing this was not the reason for the chat.  
"The pain of what I did is raw and new, which it shouldn't be after all this time."  
"You were warned of this, but still, you wished your memories to be hidden until sometime in the future."  
"You knew I'd be back?"  
"We did, we knew of the prophecies, other than the one's Edlyn showed you."  
"There's more? Edlyn knew?" Surprise in his voice.  
"Yes and no, she didn't know about the rest, but we asked to show you certain prophecies if asked."  
"I'll have words with her."  
"That may be difficult as she has already left for the AMC." His smile changed to a grimace.  
"What are you going to do now she's gone?"  
"I'm sure I'll be able to find my wand without Miss Balsom's help." Adam could not stop the huge grin breaking out on his face.  
"I assume it's important that I come back somehow?" He asked.  
"Very much so. The importance and the sheer disruption caused by this future event is so large it would be impossible for many seer's not to see something of its nature." Maldue crossed his arm and leaned back from the desk. "By the very fact that you have left your police force and that Tony has left the Ministry, is exactly what was foretold many years ago, before you were both born."  
Adam held up his hand. "Someone forced me into retirement, someone in this Ministry."  
"My predecessor, one Percy Weasley."  
"I really am becoming very confused, your predecessor?"  
"This was Percy's department before he became Minister for Magic."  
"I thought Percy didn't want us here?"  
"What Percy wants and what he is allowed, are two very different things. Politics, it doesn't matter where you go, it is always a constant thorn in the side. He has to appease as many people as possible; you know all this." He took a deep breath before continuing. "When Percy left school, he joined the Ministry. He was a very ambitious and single-minded young wizard. He was in, as we call it, the thick of it during the blood wars and he learnt that knowledge is power. So, after the war, he spent much of his spare time looking at records and prophecies. Which I might add, is the reason he is such a good Minister for Magic. He knew about the prophecies that would bring about another war, one far worse than the blood wars. He, Luthor Crabbe and a young woman, who shall remain nameless for now, are probably the foremost experts on a war that is still yet to happen."  
"What use is all this knowledge if you can nothing about it?"  
"Contrary to popular belief, and Percy will back me up on this, prophecies can be changed."  
"Tony thought that." Maldue nodded. "So you think you can stop this war?"  
The smile dropped from his face. "One thing we are sure of, the war will happen, its ferocity can, to a degree be negated, but the war will happen."  
"A war between wizards and muggles," Adam replied knowing in his head what the outcome would be.  
"No, the war is between muggles. However, the effects will have a huge negative impact on the wizarding world."  
"How big is this war going to be?"  
"I'm not at liberty to tell you; however, one particular prophecy calls the war, 'The end of days.'" Adam felt shocked at this comment.  
"The end of days, that sounds ominous?"  
Maldue nodded, his face showing a forlornness. "We still have twenty years to do whatever we can for both muggles and wizards."  
"So this prophecy." Adam stopped, looking for the correct question until Maldue raised his hand.  
"A single prophecy on its own is useless. Bring many together, find the link or common denominator and they give you knowledge, knowledge to plan for the eventual outcome, knowledge that will allow the outcome to be adjusted in someone's favour."  
"So Tony and I are being manipulated?"  
"Very much so, just as we all are to a degree." He shrugged his shoulders, the smile back.  
"What about Luthor Crabbe?"  
"Percy and his family spent time with Luthor and his family every year in the extensions; they also share the common interest I have already mentioned. I think that tells you all you need to know about that."  
"And there was me expecting you to tell me the case has come to a grinding halt, with Arcadius and his cohorts hiding in the AMC." Maldue's smile grew larger. "But I can't get to the AMC and Tony has gone off somewhere else, or at least I expect him to do so very soon."  
Maldue nodded, his smile never faltering. "Tony is now being briefed for his new assignment by Minister for Magic himself."  
"But he's left the Ministry."  
"He is due to start his new job, under the agreement of the Ministry in the New Year." Maldue raised his hand again to stop Adam from asking more questions. "Before then he has to have some training, which you, I hope, will provide. In January he will begin a new short period of training with his new people, upon him passing a few tests."  
"Which means what?" He looked at Maldue suspiciously.  
"The details I will leave for Tony to explain. You see prophecies show that two people in Tony's life are very important in bringing about a change in the future timelines. As I have said, prophecies can be moderated to a degree, you," he pointed at Adam, "have an effect on Tony that changes things in the future." He frowned for a moment. "For the good of course. What we do not know is who the second person is, but they will have an even bigger impact on him than you."  
"I still don't know how I can help now I'm retired."  
Maldue sat back, the enigmatic smile still on his face. He waved his hand over the desk and an intricately carved box appeared. Maldue lifted the top and reached inside. First, he produced Adam's phone, camera and earpiece. "I've been looking forward to this day for many a year. These are yours I believe."  
"I'm no longer a policeman." He said wondering why Maldue had them and not Commission Nugent.  
"I'll come to that." He reached inside again and took some papers from the box, which promptly disappeared, leaving the desk empty save for his phone. He placed a piece of parchment, neatly rolled up and held closed with a red ribbon and two smaller pieces of paper in a row. He pushed the smallest card across the table towards Adam.  
"Permanent pass for the Knight bus, I believe it calls at the Canu Cochran upon request." Maldue pushed the second small card across the desk, this card Adam recognised at a pass for the Tube. "A permanent pass for the tube, all stations. Both of these two items are for yourself and your family." Adam's mouth had dropped open and resolutely refused to close.  
"Now for this last item and the main reason for this meeting." He picked up the roll, pulled the ribbon off, discarding it onto the table as he unrolled the parchment. "This parchment confers one Adam Croft, muggle, the position of Minister for Investigation, Science and Technology. This is mainly a teaching post, whereupon we, the Ministry, would like you; to train our Auror's in the art of Investigation, Science and technology. Welcome to the Ministry, Minister Croft."  
Adam's mouth along with his brain had both up trying to come to terms with Maldue's comments.  
"As the post is not due to start until the New Year, you have some spare time to; perhaps travel to other Ministries with your new assistant before he starts his new job. Of course, the correct paperwork will have to be sorted, but that's all in hand." 


	27. Chapter 27 What next? TAL

Adam slowly wandered back to the canteen and took a seat. Somehow, his memories told him the correct route. His mind still numb from Maldue's offer. As he pushed the information around his head, he realised that Trelawney's prophecies mentioned that something about reversed roles. The damn prophecies were annoyingly right, which did little to make him feel any better when he remembered the gist of the prophecies and what would happen in around twenty years.

He was becoming morbid as he thought about the prophecy until Tony came storming into the room. He slumped down into the chair opposite him.

"What are you going to tell me?" He asked.

"What are you going to tell me?" He watched Tony's face, seeing a whole gamut of emotions cross it.

"You first." He said after some thought. Adam placed the small scroll on the table in front of Tony. He read it though, placed it on the table and looked at Adam for a moment before he burst out laughing.

"Your turn."

"I start my new job in the New Year, it's been arranged, but I need to learn a few things first, and apparently, you're going to help me."

"You know what I asked, what new job?"

"Detective Constable with the Metropolitan Police." It was Adams turn to laugh, which he did, just as loudly as Tony had.

He waited until Adam finished laughing. "Thank you for whatever you said to the Commissioner the other day, apparently that's what clinched it."

"What did the Minister have to say?"

"Percy didn't seem at all bothered and congratulated me on a good career move." Tony looked confused.

"Do you think he knows more than you and me for that fact?"

"Yes, what do you know?"

"Apparently our job swaps are mentioned in certain prophecies. This is all foreordained."

"I fucking hate prophecies." He said with a real vengeance. "I decided to quit the Ministry to wreck the prophecies when all I've done is exactly as was expected." He put his elbows on the table, looking dejected. "Well, Minister, what's your next step?" He grinned at Adam.

"My new assistant will take me home."

"No he won't, he will take you to the Leaky Cauldron."

"You do know who my new assistant is?"

"Yes, don't let it go to your head."

"Why are we going to the Cauldron?" He asked standing up as Tony did.

"I need a drink. I've gone from Auror to DCI, to assistant to DC in a little over a fortnight."

"If I'm not mistaken, Martin Aimless or Dan Metcalf will be your DCI."

"It's Metcalf. Is that good?"

"No, he will try to make your life a misery, try not to make it easy for him." He paused for a moment. "Most important, is that you never leave your phone anywhere, other than your pocket." Tony looked uncomfortable for a moment. "Now, what are these things you're me to train you in?"

Tony held up his phone. Adam took his from his pocket.

"I put that on the Commissioners desk." It was Adams turn to shrug.

"What else?"

"I need to have some grounding in police procedure, which apparently you've been ignoring since we met."

"Who said that?" He asked through a smirk.

"The Commissioner."

"Fair enough, next?" He asked walking towards the exit.

"Apparently I'm not fit, I can't fight, I can't shoot a gun and I can't drive. Apparently, these are quite important." He said as they stepped into the corridor, leading back to the atrium.

"Driving's not that important, whoever your partner is will sit in the driver's seat. Getting fit and leaning unarmed combat is necessary, you might be good at defending yourself with magic, but you won't be able to use that in your day-to-day duties, so you really will have to learn that, but it takes time."

"You don't seem at all bothered that I joined the police?" He asked, stopping at the entrance to the Atrium.

"You getting into a very difficult place to get without years of training, however, I think you'll make a very fine officer, you just need to learn discipline and wait to be told to do something before rushing off."

They lapsed into silence as they head towards the exit.

Tony stopped, grabbing Adam arm. "I have something to tell you."

"Do I need to worry?"

"I'm not sure, considering your new position."

"Go on."

"I put something in the loft of your house in Wales."

Adam thought for a moment, then smiled as he realised what it was.

They used the tube, neither talking much until they came up in the street at Camberwell Gardens. Tony grabbed his arm and the Charring Cross Road appeared around them. Adam felt no discomfort in the apparition. Ahead of them was the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. Tony pushed the front door open, and then led the way across the room to another door, one Adam had never seen before. This led to the Leaky Cauldrons back room, available upon request. Gwen was waiting just inside, wrapping herself around him, and attempting to crush his ribs.

"When did you get back?" He asked as she released him. "Why are you here?"

"Not long ago, Luthor and Amanda brought me."

Before he asked any more questions, she pulled him forwards into the room, a great cheer went up as he rounded the corner, Adam tried to back out, but Tony blocked his exit. He looked at two huge banners hanging across the huge room's main wall. The first had happy retirement written across it; the second looked as if was made from an old sheet and started, 'Welcome'. Adam was thinking how he would explain all of this.

All the staff who had worked for him and beside him in the force, including commissioners both old and new, were already shaking hands with Tony. Everyone stood up, all of them clutching large tankards, cheering loudly. He could see their eyes were already unfocused, thanks to the beer. Mingled between his new friends were the old ones, who came from a world the others, would never know about, except for a touch of magic on this one night.

To be continued in Part three of

The Muggle and the Auror.

The Extensions

Characters  
Wizards and Witches  
Name Job  
Percey Weasley Minister for Magic  
Maldue Ledford Head of the Department of Mysteries  
Willard Endicott Minister for International Magical Cooperation  
Merrill Woodrow Minister  
Botilda Grimworthy Head of Hall of Memories  
Tony Garrett Auror  
Maxton (Monty) Nithercott Auror  
Edlyn Balsom Ministry Worker (Part Veela)  
Elfrida Hedgecock Ministry Worker (Dead)  
Clinton Hedgecock Ministry worker  
Argonia Huxley Ministry Worker  
Megan Trelawney Ministry Worker  
Heather Fawcett Tyndall Ministry Worker  
Alistone Bradwardine Ministry Worker  
Charley Weasley Drake Hanterare and Dragonologist

Ramsey Arn Drake Hanterare and Dragonologist

Dulcia Woodrow Trainee Drake Hanterare

Drifa Trainee Drake Hanterare  
Ninian Ferhe Drake Hanterare (Dead)  
Amanda Le Clair Matron of St Mungo's  
Pinne Byquest Wandmaker  
Stormy Fairweather Daily Prophets Lead Reporter  
Gabrielle Lynwood Hogsmead Barmaid  
Eric Clerkin Hogsmead Barman (Dead)  
Luthor Crabbe Keeper of Records and Prophecies at the AMC  
Urian Adair (Senior) Macusa Minister  
Arcadius Darnell Hogwarts Professor  
Goranuk Durmstrang Professor (Goblin)  
Augustine Morrell Unknown Witch  
Hulda Scrivens Witch, works in Muggle World  
Urian Adair (Junior) Unemployed  
Haf Price Works in the Canu Crochan

Muggles  
Name Job

Adam Croft Police Inspector  
Holly Fairweather Police Constable (Squib)  
Dan Marchbank Police Superintendent New Scotland Yard  
Cliff Nugent Police Commissioner New Scotland Yard

Dan Metcalf DCI New Scotland Yard  
Gwen Jones (Croft) Junior School Teacher  
Marc Ewan Muggle (Dead)  
Robin Allinson Muggle (Dead)  
Sarah Mitchell Muggle (Dead)

Others  
Name Job

Meninda Ministry House Elf

Places and Items  
AMC African Magical Congress.

Aunt Matilda Old Dutch barge used by Tony Garrett as a home.

Bishops Bridge Ministry of Magic Tube Station  
St Mungo's Tube Station  
Parliament Hill Tube Station  
Goodmayers Park Tube Station  
Camberwell Cemetery Tube Station

Drake Hanterare Name used by the residents of Lykkeligdal and Durmstrang

for a Dragon Handler.

Kosteskaft Broomstick.

Lykkeligdal Happy Valley. Wizard only village in Northern Sweden or

Norway. Durmstrang's version of Hogsmeade

Moon Market A market that appears in different placed around the world for

one night only. Is illegal in some countries, and ignored by most. Access is via invite only. 

Ormstone Wizards/Muggle village near Brighton  
Dyffryn Cudd Hidden Valley in Wales

Pubs and Inns  
Torkel Thor's Cauldron. Pub in Lykkeligdal

Canu Crochan Singing Cauldron near Dyffryn Cudd. Adams local


End file.
